


simpler than that

by altairstars



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Author is unreliable, Blood and Injury, Bottom Jeong Yunho, Bottom Jung Wooyoung, Bottom Kang Yeosang, Bottom Park Seonghwa, Multi, ateez are pirates, bottom yunho enthu pls come out i need more friends, but he's no traitor relax, fantasy pirate, hongjoong's the captain, how do u tag tbh, mentioned mpreg only, no beta we die like men, no smut(sorry not sorry), pirateez, selkie!yunho, siren!Yeosang, siren!seonghwa, siren!wooyoung, wooyoung is not what you think, yeonjun as woo's ex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 45,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altairstars/pseuds/altairstars
Summary: This, is a tale. A tale of a pirate, who found his treasure, in something… quite odd. It was said that he never had found riches, nor properties, but he found something more exquisite, yet simple. Compassion, it was what he found. A family within his crew, and someone to love even though he had all these… undeniably despised weaknesses. It was said that some of his crew was cursed, but they were loved just as much as the others love themselves.This, is a tale of overcoming prejudices and acheiveing equality like no other. This, is the tale of Ateez.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 31
Kudos: 168





	1. the sailor and the siren

Kim Hongjoong was born to a sailor father and a stay-at-home mother. His father would go to long _, long_ trips to the east seas, where it was said to be filled with magical things and these, exotic-looking people. Not to mention the creatures, his father once said he met a siren that is so beautiful— _he nearly cheated on his wife for the sea creature._

At the age of sixteen, he was allowed, at first, to sail to the nearer ports. Hongjoong was absolutely ecstatic, looking for adventures like his father said he had, but his expectations were soon crushed into small pieces like glass that fell on the floor. He was inexperienced—even though he understood the workings on the deck, but the men who he worked for had never been very happy about their jobs. It was dull— _almost_ _mundane_ —if he were to recollect his experiences on the vessel.

He met a boy, around two years later, considerably younger than that of his age, but already bustling with energy since the first day they met. Jongho is energetic, to be fair, his energy was even stronger than Hongjoong, but the younger is gentle. He would always so carefully place the loads under the deck, and he usually goes out to take the watching duties at the midnights.

One day, the vessel that Hongjoong and Jongho took, had taken a big damage in the hull because of an accidental gunpowder blast— _someone had tossed their still-burning cigar to the gunpowder bags_ —and all the crew were evacuated. It was in the middle of the night when Hongjoong had felt Jongho shake him, the younger’s voice filled with grim and terror.

“Hyung, wake up! The ship’s drowning!!”

Hongjoong had never felt like this before. The adrenaline, the rush, the speed of how everything is happening. He quickly boarded one of the smallest boats the big vessel had with Jongho, then both paddled to the open sea.

At first, Hongjoong had not been sure that he heard a knock on their boat. But then, Jongho told him to stop, to which he just obliged, because he’s tired anyway.

A clawed hand had made it’s way to Jongho’s side, and Hongjoong nearly jumped in to the sea if Jongho weren’t there to pull him back.

“Hyung, it’s okay.” The younger said. “He’s not gonna harm us.” He? Hongjoong thought. What in the world did they just encounter?

“Yeosangie-hyung, this is Hongjoong-hyung, the one that I used to talk about back in the ship.” A head emerged, with a very long, platinum blonde hair that looked nearly white. The clawed hands slowly carded through the locks, and he had an angelic face, even for something that is considered monster for human eyes.

He just waved, and smiled. Not those typical scary smiles the sailors said to have encounter, but this, Yeosang, had a very human smile. “Oh, yeah. Hongjoong-hyung, this is Yeosangie-hyung, or you could call him just Yeosang, since he’s a year younger than you. He’s a siren, but he’s mute, he can’t use his tongue.” Jongho explained quickly even before Hongjoong could interject. The oldest of them was bewildered, a siren, but can’t talk nor sing? What in the world is that?

Yeosang then opened his mouth, and Hongjoong was even more surprised at the horror he saw. The siren’s tongue, was cut—no it looked like something sharp had ripped it off, out of anger and out of grief.

Yeosang then signaled something in what do you call it? Sign language? With the hands puling different shapes for certain alphabets? To Jongho, and the latter replied with another sequence of signals.

“What are you guys talking about?” Hongjoong asked them.

“Oh, Yeosang asked me if he should also trust you, like he trusted me. Sorry I got carried away, it’s been a habit of mine to sign back to him even though he could perfectly hear me.”

“I’ll trust Yeosang for the time being, and it’s okay to trus me, Yeosang. He’s the only one who knows more about the ways in the sea than we are without a navigator nor a map present.”

“Okay. You hear that Sangie-hyung? You could trust him also, and guide us to the nearest port? Please?” And in no time, Yeosang had gone before them, head still above the water and slowly swimming—wanting them to follow him.

On their way paddling, Jongho had told him about his relationship with Yeosang.

Both met when they were little, spending almost every evening on the beach, talking in the foreign language of signs (which he learnt because one of his cousins were born mute), teaching Yeosang how to write and read, teaching Yeosang how to walk, how to get comfortable in human clothes, and the siren sometimes brought him gold coins that he found buried in the sands near his home. Yeosang had told him, that there’s this sea witch, who was jealous of his beauty, and took his tongue off so that he couldn’t use his voice anymore to sing songs that attract unaware sailors. But the siren told the boy also, that he felt better not talking, because that way, he doesn’t get attention.

It was peaceful. Until Jongho’s father knew what had kept his son going to the beach in the late evening after dinner. Yeosang was nearly killed, but he managed to run away as the bullet took off, only grazing few of his scales.

They continued to meet—even though Yeosang was afraid at first, he didn’t show up almost a year, watching Jongho from afar silently waiting every night for him to come. The siren’s heart clenched, but he couldn’t bear to risk himself again meddling with the innocent life that Jongho had.

Then, the news of Jongho sailing dawned a new dread to Yeosang. He was going to lose his only human friend, _as he had none within his pod, save for one, very loud and annoying siren from the neighboring pod who would occasionally come to his_ —because following a ship could be dangerous, and it the journey could be rigorous—because he only ate raw fish, not actual humans _, or at least, he never attempted to try one_. And raw fishes weren’t the best ways to refill his energy.

Yeosang was very lucky, as the early journeys Jongho took weren’t too far and weren’t as tedious as what he had imagined, but as time went on, it became farther and farther and it became harder to follow. But still, Yeosang had persisted, and sailed with Jongho for a year his tail had definitely began to bulk up even more. They talked in the midnights while Jongho’s usually on watch, he’d drop a piece of fish to signal Yeosang that the boy’s ready to start the conversation.

Back to the present, they had found a beach—an isolated beach, but Yeosang said of they were to walk a meagre 15 minutes, there should be a small port called Haalder where they can purchase food. In addition, the siren had gave them some of the buried golden coins in the sea that they can trade for food and shelter, and told Jongho to give the signal if he wanted to summon Yeosang.

Hongjoong had began to think, was it all worth it for Yeosang? Helping a human like that? But he shrugged it off, his mind told him to just shut up and think positively of the things that Yeosang did for them to stay alive.

So, they went to trade the golden coins for food and shelter. The had rented a small room in the farthest borders of the city, not wanting to risk their valuables being pickpocketed in the middle of them, and it was easier for Jongho to go visit Yeosang if he wants to, because he promised to stop by the beach after their business on the surface had all settled.

It was in the middle of the night when Jongho and Hongjoong silently crept out of their shared room, and they walked slowly, not to wake the other residents so that their secret is kept safe.

Unbeknownst to them, the inn owner’s child, someone named Choi San, had followed them into the depths of the mangrove woods—and to the silent sands of the beach. At first, San was bewildered, because nobody in the small town even knew that this beach existed, save for some sailors who were rumored to have relationships with the sirens.

Hongjoong and Jongho heard footseps behind them, but chose to ignore it because they would think twice before harming them if they had saw Yeosang, a man-eating monster who can harm them more than they can harm him.

Jongho took out his dagger, then he held it under the water— _and he clinked it a few times with his ring some significant rythms that only Yeosang understood_. His trousers were submerged until half of his thighs, and as he backs out, there’s a noticeable mark the waters had left to the material.

Jongho waited, and waited, and waited. _Maybe this isn’t his lucky day_.

But then a small disturbance—a miniscule stir in the water made him sure that Yeosang had answered his call. The finned, clawed hands slowly rose and waved, motioning for Jongho to come deeper to the waters, and the boy obliged—not thinking of the risk— _because that’s what trust is_. Jongho had long trusted his life and safety to his Yeosang-hyung.

“What are you thinki mphhh-” San had ran to the shore, shouting, but then Hongjoong held him down so the other villagers don’t wake and risk killing Yeosang. He now felt that he owed the siren safety after Yeosang had basically kept them alive—and even thriving on the surface.

“Don’t mind him Yeosang! He’s just another human who thought of you as a monster! But I could assure you, you have a really nice and sincere heart!” Hongjoong whisper-shouted while still stuffing his hand on San’s mouth, and Yeosang gave him a thumbs-up with a lovely smile.

“He could’ve been killed!” San managed to rid Hongjoong’s hand off his face, but still held composure.

“If Yeosang wanted to kill Jongho, he would’ve done it since forever, idiot. They have been friends for at least six years,” Hongjoong glanced at both of them, who’s still conversing happily, yet silently in sign language. San was…utterly flabbergasted. He didn’t know that the two, very different worlds could exist—even far beyond his own imagination.

“Hongjoong-hyung?” Jongho called him, and the older boy’s head whipped to his direction. “Yeosang said he had a friend nearby, could he bring the other friend here?” Hongjoong only shook his head, then the siren’s head just dipped quickly in the water, and the blood-red tail swished fast, dissapearing to the horizon.

A dolphin-like laugh was heard, then a head of a short-haired and lavender-tinted hair was seen on the surface as Yeosang spoke to him with sign language.

‘ _Be quiet you dumbass!_ ’ Yeosang signed, the other closed his mouth with with an oops and kept quiet until they reached near the shore.

“Wooyoung-hyung! It’s been a long time!” Jongho greeted the other siren with glee, and earned a bone-crushing hug from the latter.

Then both giggled at the sight of sulky Yeosang, because Wooyoung is getting too near to his ‘human’—even Hongjoong did too, because he found that interesting. But once those lavender orbs landed on San, the human was… practically frozen. He had never seen any human, nor anything as beautiful and as gorgeous as Wooyoung. Even though he knew that everyone could’ve just fallen for the siren, but the sea creature had never intended to do so, and San kind of knew when he saw a glint of sincerity behind those purple-hued irises.

Maybe liking Wooyoung wasn’t bad after all. Because he was more beautiful than any girls San had dated within the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you don't cringe because my first language isn't english, and I miss the sea too much. Even though my house is like, an hour away from it, COVID makes everything difficult. TvT


	2. to mend our broken hearts

Let us now shift to the two others, who had now been attracted to eah other, but has never been able to say it.

Wooyoung, still couldn’t get over his past lover. Yeonjun, the one that first caught his heart, then testing, torturing it in it’s every waking moment, and threw it away like some trash. Yet, Wooyoung still loved him. No, Yeonjun was not from his kind, the man came from the surface. Yeonjun had left his heart hanging, for another one of Wooyoung’s kind, Soobin. He was blinded by jealousy at first, nearly killing the innocent, unknowing Soobin, but then Yeosang came like a gentle current that perhaps, slowly had eroded Wooyoung’s rage and calmed him down with silence.

Yes, silence. Both knew there would be a time, in the future, that Wooyoung would get over Yeonjun, but still, for the time being, his heart was still at Yeonjun’s disposal.

San was no different. His heart was broken way too many times, until he’s afraid to love again. To give in again, to trust some stranger that had a beautiful face and disgusting personality again. He was afraid to once more be heartbroken, to once more be delusional and think of the person he allegedly loved as his soulmate— _until it’s too late and he’s already broken._

The small, flirty actions San gave while they meet was only brushed off by Wooyoung as a friendly manner. He— _or it’s what his heart says_ —had to be strong, so that once Yeonjun is over Soobin, they could reunite as lovers again in the future. Even though his mind said, _no, you’ve seen what Yeonjun had done to you, he had made you broken! San is still more gentle than Yeonjun had ever been!_ But no, his heart was adamant at it’s decision.

They conversed for another two months, getting to know each other a little bit more, as both Hongjoong and Jongho tried to scrape money off for some ship so that they could sail the seas again—and now they began to search some rumors about the treasure that the seas had. They had settled for the east, the cities ever bigger and bustling, and where some people said that there were treasures in the middle of their deep-blue seas.

Soon, San would be part of their crew, Wooyoung too, and with a little bit of financial help from the boy, they were able to buy a not-so-big ship, already furnished and clean, to set sail for the eastern seas. By this time, Yeosang had already cut his hair short, leaving only curtaning bangs over his ocean blue eyes and a little mullet that reached till the base of his neck.

Wooyoung was still not over Yeonjun, despite his new will for adventures replacing his old, dull life—but he was never ready to just leave his past behind. San, however, had mustered up a new courage to have a little crush on Wooyoung, even though he might never get the chance to know who Yeonjun is. All he knew from Yeosang (with a little bit of translation help from Jongho), was that Wooyoung was still not ready to love again—and had his reasons that San had no business of knowing.

But San had heard— _or overheard—_ the reason, because he caught Jongho and Hongjoong conversing about the matter in their shared room, and with that knowledge, San knew he had to take baby steps to slip inside Wooyoung’s broken and fractured heart. He himself had already been mending his broken one, tending it slowly and steadily every day, to make sure that it was strong enough to withstood whatever hertbreak Wooyoung might cause him.

One day, Wooyoung and Yeosang had changed into their human forms, to make sure they were ready for an adventure, and both sirens are going to be their navigators. The ship’s other roles were not really discussed as there were not enough crew, but they were still grateful that they were given a chance to sail again after such accident.

Wooyoung and Yeosang had came to a sea witch, he was called Eden, to make their appearance a little more human with a necklace—and both of Jongho and San would have to admit, that the black hair suited the sirens too.

Over time, Wooyoung began to forget what it is like being loved by Yeonjun. His ex now only left a scar mark over his reclaimed heart, and he only remained as a painful memory that he made sure to forget. He was on the deck, both hands leaning on to the ship’s wooden railings as he basked in the evening breeze. The waves that had swayed the deck made him miss another one’s embrace—holding him tight as they’d dance over soft music.

Oh, his imagination. It runs wild.

San had unknowingly stood beside the siren, their shoulders touching and soft eyes met his now-brown ones. The boy’s orbs were threateningly questioning, and then San broke his gaze to the seas with a cute flush painting his cheeks.

“Still not over him yet?” San asked, eyes still fixed on the horizon.

“Over who?”

“Yeonjun.” _Oh_ , Wooyoung thought. _How dumb can I be?_ He and San had talked about the man, the siren had now found solace in the latter’s company regarding Yeonjun— _even though he can’t bear to say that he’s falling even deeper for the man._

“He’s… now just a painful memory. Nothing more. I have reclaimed my heart.”

“Well, good to hear that.”

It was peaceful for both of them, and even Yeosang was surprised that his usually jumpy and all hyperactive friend didn’t move an inch from his position.

They went sailing for another month—but in that one month, nothing seemed to happen to our heartbroken people—both only platonically cuddled every night, not a single drip of lust was present between those hands that encaged Wooyoung’s small frame. Unlike his past lover who, sometimes took things too fast and rough, San was… gentle and slow in guiding Wooyoung. The siren liked the man’s soft and alluring voice, sometimes pursing his lips as he talk— _he noticed that San had that cute habit_ —and they could talk for hours every day.

Until… Yeonjun’s ship— _as the man was another sailor_ —came across theirs in the middle of the night. Wooyoung had been so traumatized, that even seeing those eyes now had began to make his skin boil and his neck hair raised high. San didn’t know what the man looked like, but after seeing Wooyoung like that, he quickly realized it was the siren’s ex lover. Yeonjun had realized the undeniable charm Wooyoung had from far away, and he took the risk to come over.

“Wooyoung-ah,” Yeonjun was on a small boat, coming all the way from his ship. “Wooyoung-ah, do you still love me?”

_This is where you thought… maybe if Wooyoung came to Yeonjun, his broken heart would be healed. Maybe, if Yeonjun was now in love again with Wooyoung, the story gets to a happy ending. But no. Wooyoung was now cleared of the fog that contaminated his mind. The one Yeonjun had made._

“I don’t love you anymore, and I’m not sorry.”

“Wooyoung I-” Yoenjun was quickly angered, because Soobin had just left him, and now Wooyoung?

“No Junnie, you’ll never get to steal my heart like that again. You think my heart’s your plaything to throw? Don’t you have Soobin?”

“Soobin left me-”

“And you deserve it.” It was San who replied, holding Wooyoung tight from the deck. “It is what you get when you play with someone’s heart. Wooyoung has one too, and he can’t just only feel love, he can feel hate and sadness and anger too, you asshole.”

Wooyoung then looked at San, disbelieving that someone had defended him over Yeonjun— _not like even Yeosang did_ —and hugged him tightly to assure his heart that now he’s safe.

“Go, before I call Yeosang to personally butcher you.”

Yeonjun grumbled, and he slowly paddled away to his own ship where his crew awaits.

“Why…?” It was only what the siren could manage to say.

“Why what, Wooyoungie? If fending him off makes you happy, I’d gladly do so. And you don’t love him anymore, do you?”

“No… Thank you, San. So much.” Wooyoung hugged the man even tighter, and Hongjoong, who stood at the helm could only watch in awe as both finally stepped up their relationship to another level.

_Now… You might think, okay, Wooyoung’s already over Yeonjun… when is Woosan gonna sail then? The answer is, I do not know. But as the story, and their story progresses, love will find a way. Remember that._


	3. with your blind eyes you see

“THERE ARE SIRENS ON THEIR SHIP!!”

The cry, was not from our crew. It was from another ship, who had recognized— _even when hidden by magic—_ Wooyoung and Yeosang.

That other ship was coming closer to theirs, and both sirens were hidden inside the captain’s quarters as the three others unsheathed their swords. As they got closer, Hongjoong could see another siren on their ship—chained between the masts and had a long, turqoise hair. The eyes were blindfolded, the mouth was gagged, and he was not wearing any garment on his upper half. It was unclear how long had it been tied there, since the skin was still clear of any scars and beatings.

San and Jongho had also noticed that there was the other siren present, so they began to devise a plan for getting the siren free from the death grips. The other ship’s crew were only seven, for a bigger ship like that, but hey, at least… it was a bigger ship if they managed to rob.

“Guys!” It was Wooyoung’s voice, peeking from the door. “What?” San had came to him, and hushed the siren so that their plan or whatever he wanted to say doesn’t leak to the incoming enemy. “I have charmed this room with my magic and Yeosang’s, it’s soundproof of our singing and whatever the hell voice that we make. I’ve noticed that their ship didn’t have one as strong as ours, I can break them and possibly even collapse the crew. I just need one of you guys to stay near the door, because I’m positive that I’d faint after that.”

“What about the creature in the middle there?”

“He’ll be fine Sanie, I think he's the one who laced their ship with magic.”

“Okay, I’ll tell them. Thanks, Wooyoungie.” San gave Wooyoung a small peck on the cheek, and then ran to the others.

When the others knew about the news, they were… utterly shocked, _is Wooyoung worth the price?_ But then, when they saw the siren, the fire in his eyes were strong enough to cower them and just obey this one time.

“Be safe Wooyoung. And good luck. May Calypso be with you.” San had kissed him again in the cheeks before slamming the door shut, fuelling Wooyoung’s adrenaline to attack. The siren only stood near the door before he went off and screamed his lungs out.

Through the porthole of the captain’s quarters, the other ship’s crew didn’t budge—not until something like glass breaking echoed from them. Then the all the crew—or so they thought, had fainted because of shock.

Wooyoung’s body then fell to the ground, same like the other ship’s crew did, and San hurriedly placed him to bed.

“He’s alive.”

“Thank the gods!” Hongjoong sighed, and looked at the other ship. He walked out, and steered the helm until they were close enough to cross over with a jump.

As his foot stepped to the wooden deck, the creature— _or presumably siren—_ head shot up to his direction. “I’m not here to hurt you, two of my fellow crewmates are also sirens.” Hongjoong told him, and then the head just simply hung down again.

Hongjoong went behind the creature, opening the blindfold on his eyes and the gag in his mouth. He had a tongue, and freckles littering his pale face, Hongjoong noticed, but his eyes were white as pearls— _he’s blind_.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Hongjoong asked.

“The name’s Yunho. _Click,_ ” A click was sounded from his lips, and Hongjoong was nearly offended until Yunho explained his reasons. “I’m sorry, it’s been a habit of mine. It’s my way to cope with my blindness since birth.”

_Oh._

“Do you know where the keys are placed, then?” Yunho only shook his head.

“Hongjoong-hyung!” Jongho and Yeosang were bringing another person with them, and then shoved another boy who’s at their age to his face.

“How did he not faint?” Hongjoong asked. “Yeosang-hyung said that he was protected by a charm placed on his soul. Probably that other’s doing. We found him in the ship’s cell.”

“Don’t kill Yunho please, just kill me instead of him.” The man now had kowtowed to Hongjoong, his head so low that the forehead touched the deck.

“Relax boy, two of our crews are sirens too, like Yeosang here.” Hongjoong pointed at Yeosang, and then Mingi looked at the boy at awe.

“Why were you imprisoned, then?” Hongjoong asked.

“I… I’m Yunho’s friend, actually. When my ship sunk, I was taken by the pirates because Yunho was trying to keep me afloat. They were just about to sail to Killeon, so that they could sell him. And Yunho’s a selkie, not a siren. He has no gills. But please help him, if you leave me here I’ll be okay knowing that he’s in safer hands than mine.” Mingi was still on his knees, and Hongjoong told him to stand up.

 _Maybe it’s the wrong decision after all_. Mingi is way taller than the rest of the crew, and Hongjoong felt a little jealousy and inferiority to the boy before him. “Me and Yunho are born in the same year, and it’s been 17 summers since my birthday.”

“Oh, I’m a little older than you guys, mine’s been 18 summers. But anyway, how can we get the cuffs off Yunho?”

“I know where the keys are, wait for me please,” Mingi pretty much ran and rummaged through the other vessel’s quarters, then found what they had been looking for. When they released the cuffs, Yunho had fallen to the ground, nearly hitting headfirst to the wooden deck.

Then after hauling Yunho’s body up to drape it to Jongho’s, Mingi went back under the deck searching for something. He came back with what looked like a pelt, and he said he’d explain that once they got Yunho to safety.

Hongjoong had offered Mingi to join his crew of different people, and he agreed, as long as Yunho could be put into safety. By the time Yunho had came over to the deck, Wooyoung had already awoken and tried to help as much as he could, even though he was stalled at Mingi and Yunho’s body height. Wooyoung had cooked for them a simple meal, San and Hongjoong boarding the other vessel to simply rob some of the supplies to sufficiently feed two more people on their ship.

Yunho ate the meal happily, but then he realized that one of the crew didn’t speak at all suring his stay. He thought that person had a cool aura, but when Jongho told him he’s mute, Yunho understood. It had been the same with his clicking habit, for sure, and he couldn’t blame Yeosang for it.

Turns out Yeosang was a funny person, even though Yunho got the joke from Jongho a bit too late, but he was happy to be here since their first night of stay.

Mingi, though, told Hongjoong that he’d been looking for the island Matrinesse for a long time, and Hongjoong instantly recognized the name as one of the three legendary Isles of Utopia. According to legends, Matrinesse had the power to heal and restore what had been taken, whether it’s blindness or like Yeosang, his tounge ripped out, it could be restored within seconds with it’s waters.

Zenith and Aucteraden, the other two legendary isles, were said to be full of gleaming treasures, but if you take any trinket or any ounce of gold home, you’ll be haunted and be damned for the rest of your life. It was a test, as Matrinesse was located inside the other two isles, froming a double barriered atoll.

There was a story, regarding the three islands.

_Sirens, the three siblings of Utopia were once. But humans, who were blinded by greed and rage, abused their powers to them and their supernatural abilities. Zenith, the oldest of the three, had a third eye, and could see the truth from it. Then Aucteraden, the only male within the siblings—all his life, he had seen nothing, but darkness, but within his hands, come healing. The last one, Matrinesse, was mute, because of jealousy—she had a beautiful voice, like an angel’s, but her throat was slit and her tongue cut, so that she may never sing again. The three then casted a curse, that made humans who came across them even more blinded by their thirst of power and their infinite greed. Years upon years passed, and they settled on the islands in the middle of nowhere. The once, thriving and beautiful siblings now seen as the wretched witches of the seas that bring upon demise and death to ones that met them._

Hongjoong was interested in the adventures that awaited them, but he noticed that everyone already had somebody, like some kind of… partner to complete their lives with. San with Wooyoung, Jongho with Yeosang, and Mingi with Yunho. What things did he lack of that the goddess had him alone for most of the time?

He could never be sure, but the months following their information and port-hopping activities had stripped the thought from his brain for the time being.

_At this point, you might be asking… when is Seonghwa coming? Well, all I could say is just wait for the right moment._


	4. behind of what is known

Everything was going well for them, and now it has been nearly a year since the first time San joined the crew. They had met people, all kinds of people— _good and bad_ —but they could say most didn’t really want to identify as them, because of their now-scary reputation of having sirens on board.

The crew of Ateez, and their ship, Sunrise.

They have built this, ominous presence over time, and with Mingi’s now ever-growing magic abilities, every ship who opposed their way and attempted to bring them down would be stripped off their goods and killed personally and by the hands of the crew. Either butchered, hung upside down, shot, stabbed, or by magic. The crews was also rumored to be one of those who signed the pact with the devil—because it seemed like they could even steer in the dark and through the thick fogs.

To tell you the truth, Yunho steered them—as he clicks, he could see the outlines of an object—sometimes even shallow parts of the water—that is why Sunrise could go through the fog unbothered and unharmed.

Even though they have built the scary reputation, they were still kids at the heart, forced to become mature against the harsh waves and strengthened by the blazing sun.

Yunho was in his seal form as he waddled on the deck. He wanted to sunbathe, but he was too afraid that he’d get sunburned if he were to be in his human form, so he resorted to that. And by the meaning of sunbathing, the sun had just risen—he wanted to retire after his night watch. All the crews were sleeping, nobody was up and Yunho rolled happily alone. Upon hearing the commotion though, Mingi had woken up and caught Yunho off-guard by grabbing the base of his tail. The still-seal yelped, and immediately opened his seal skin to scold Mingi and pinch his ears for not warning. Mingi only laughed it off when Yunho did quite literally pinch and scold him, he wished the selkie could see his own cute-but-agitated expression.

The other crews were awoken by the voices, then the sirens, Yeosang and Wooyoung, took their usual morning dip before getting up the deck again for the rest of the day. Yunho joined them, but he took only his half-form, leaving the excess seal skin draping his waist as he tied it with a small rope.

They were playing and having fun, until a jet black tail had joined them, which none of them had. The one with the jet black hair then turned it’s head, they were greeted by a stunning visual. Even though the face was hidden with a long, inky veil of hairs, it was clear that it’s a he. A he with a beautiful face and a very, _very_ long jet black tail. He looked hostile though, because he saw the ship beside them and ran away.

“Hey!” Wooyoung tried to call the other siren again, but it was too late. He was already in the depths of the deep blue sea, and they had no obligation to chase after. “Aish… such a shame.” Wooyoung pouted, and he continued on swimming as the ship goes forward. When the water’s currents noticeably got colder, Wooyoung and Yeosang had resorted to just staying on the deck, meanwhile, Yunho who’s more cold-resistant still enjoyed his time under the water with his full seal form.

“You done yet pup?!” Mingi asked Yunho for the third time already. “Your breakfast’s gonna be cold! And if you come out later you’re gonna miss second breakfast!” Mingi could see Yunho grumbling from below, but the selkie still reached to the smaller boat, shed his seal coat, then hauled himself up the rope ladder.

“Don’t threaten me with that Mingi-ah, you know I literally couldn’t live without second breakfast~” Yunho pouted his lips, and from his mouth he began clicking three times to make sure he’s heading to the right direction.

“Wooyoung-ah, I need my daily dose of fats!” Yunho had been searching on deck, and the siren was nowhere to be found.

“In the captain’s! On the desk!” The reply was from under the deck, and his two legs began to walk over to the quarters. He nearly slammed is body to the door because he purposedly missed his sequence of clicking— _he thought six months were enough for him to familiarize himself with the ship’s layout… but it seems like even half a year isn’t enough for his poor brain._

He had smelled the milky smell of the simple mushroom cream soup— _it had been his favorite human food, both to store up fats and the taste itself_ —and this cream can only last around three days, so he was grateful that Wooyoung had opted to cook his favorite dish after a visit to the ports. He ate the big portion while sitting down to one of the stools near the table, eating it as if it were his last supper.

Yunho was also given a necklace by Mingi, to prevent his very vibrant aquamarine hair from raising eyebrows of people around. But sometimes, they’d release the charm in the darkest nights and danced the moonless night away with the rest of the crew.

After he was just done eating, he smelled Jongho coming in, then only hummed to greet, as he’s still chewing the last bits of mushroom. Jongho replied him, and took something from the quarter’s—probably the ancient texts containing the legends of the Matrinesse island. The door was shut, and he’s alone again inside the room. He could hear the muffled sounds from outside and from below, his crewmates were chatting as usual, having fun and probably even cackle from another one of Yeosang’s notorious sarcastic jokes.

They were, as usual, hanging out— _all of them_ —on the deck as the sun sets down for the day, well, save for our dear mutually pining couple, Wooyoung and San, both were on the heights of the crow’s nest, conversing exclusively only for each other to hear. Yeosang was occasionally critisizing the human’s thirst of power, and the others just simply got a good laugh—even Yunho, who found this even more interesting.

‘ _Some people are just too narscissistic, they don’t even need mirrors to fawn over themselves, disgusting. I had been observing, that they had an undying yearning for perfect beauty—and as a siren myself, I could say that beauty comes with a price. My tongue was my price._ ’ This time, Yeosang really rambled, and Jongho nearly slipped a few words translating the hand gestures for Yunho, but he was successful at the end, don’t worry.

It was a good time, until Yunho’s extraordinary sense of smell caught blood wafting in the air. It was faint, and he asked all of them to make sure if they had any wounds or scabs or whatsoever—but they were surprisingly unharmed. So he concluded it must’ve been from another place. The others were also alerted, Wooyoung and San were already looking around on the crow’s nest—hoping to see something that is clearly hidden in plain sight.

“There!” The siren from the heights shouted.

“Where?!” Yunho shouted back, he couldn’t see, _obviously_.

“On your right!” Yunho followed the smell, and the other siren was right about the position, the iron smelled a little bit stronger, and the foul smell of torn flesh spiked a little more in that direction.

“I’ll dive in! And I’ll see what I can help!” Yunho said, while taking his stance and closing his furs to jump off the boat.

The selkie was back to his chubby seal form, and swam fast to the smell of blood, ignoring the obvious churn his stomach made in attempt to throw away his cream soup.

It was the siren from before, he realized. Because of the abnormally long tail, and long hair veiling his front, he was certain that this is the one from yesterday morning.

“It’s the siren from the other day! The one with the long tail!” The selkie said in his half-form, quickly relaying the message to the whole crew. “I think he blacked out! I’ll try to drag him to Sunrise!”

“Go ahead! And let Yeosang help you!” He had heard Jongho’s voice, and he nodded. He felt Yeosang’s presence, as the siren was the fastest swimmer out to the three, and quickly helped drape the other siren’s body up Yunho’s back.

He was heavy, certainly the long hairs and the long tail is going to cost up more energy that they had ever imagined. Both were really struggling to haul him up to the deck.

Certainly, what Hongjoong had expected was not this— _this, angel, who seemed to just fell off the heavens above—_ and seemingly so very beautiful yet so torn apart by the hands of others. Yes, hands—or claws, as five stripes of jagged flesh covered the milky expanse of the skin.

“Captain? You alright?” Woyoung asked him, snapped Hongjoong out of his trance.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine Wooyoung, now let’s focus on healing him first.” The thing is, Hongjoong had never prioritized himself nor his heart in times like these. He never had answered his own personal heart’s calling, never satiated it, never gave in to it, because he simply believed that as the others are happy, he’ll be happy too.

_Until now, it wasn’t proven wrong. It had lasted him years and years._


	5. inflorescence;to bloom

_Let us now forget the present, and I will guide you back to the past—of our long-awaited character, Seonghwa._

Seonghwa, was born in the line of nobilities among his giant pod. Being born form one of the recognisable in the vast community of his people, his birth was celebrated upon.

But then, the heads turned away with disgust after seeing something, you might not expect to see an infant do.

Seonghwa, did not open his eyes. He opened the one between his brows, the vertical slit opening ever so slightly and so hideously— _or that is what the people say_.

He was… cursed to say the least. Being born in the middle of a full red moon, the darkness that surrounded him was powerful and imminent—always awaiting to be brought back.

He is— _not to the fullest extent though—_ a reincarnation of Zenith, the oldest, of the cursed siren siblings. The one that had a third eye, tho one who shall see the truth behind what the mouth says.

As he got older, he was… shoved back from his society. Never attending meetings, never meeting another one like him, nor even get a glimpse of the surface.

So he was ecstatic that his mother had opened the door one day, but only to bring him to even more torture.

Now it was physical.

The beatings, the harsh pull on his hair, and the scars that burn his skin. He persisted. Through the harsh waves and strong currents, he persisted. Through all the degrading words uttered and through all the stares he saw beneath his veil of hairs, he persisted. And ran. Away from the community, away from everybody.

Even away from himself.

But what people had not known was… that his eye of Zenith could see the truth. The true intent of one’s soul, whether it is greed, power, or beauty, he could see it. And he had lived enough years on the surface by the care of a witch to know what kinds of people humans were.

Most have greed, but some balanced out— _how their greed that had resulted into more money or power_ —by giving back to the others. Like the said witch, but too bad he died too soon. The result of another one’s greed.

So he took his newfound freedom… to just throw it away again and lived within the confines of his broken heart.

He was wandering, wandering and wandering. Never far away from the abandoned hut, never strayed from where his heart had last been opened— _and broken_.

Then he saw a ship. It was far, but he saw glints of what had looked like another siren’s tail. He opened his third eye, with no difficulty, he could see happiness emnating from three souls in the sea and four on the ship.

He was curious.

Even beyond.

Because he hadn’t seen a band of people, with so much connection to each other to the point their souls nearly merge into all these different colors of jumbled threads knitting together and not afraid to fall apart— _because they intertwine, not overlap._

He then swam. There, to the ship that had a jumbled mess of intertwined souls. He saw three of them having fun, but one had a blind eye and the other didn’t speak at all. Did the speaking one have a third eye like him? He opened his third one, and now he could see clearer. No, the third one had none.

He remembered vaguely getting closer to them, but he… then got afraid of the openness. It was foreign, it was way too much to insert to his broken heart. So he ran.

Seonghwa woke up breathing air. He was on something hard, the coldness of the night was hitting on his skin yet, some parts were covered with something very…warm. Like a mother’s embrace that he never have had experienced before.

“He’s up! Cap he’s up!” A high pitched voice was registered in his ears, then something was shaking his body. He then felt the tides swayed the deck, and some of the warm hands touching his cold skin.

“We gotta warm him up, and we gotta make him change forms.” Said another one.

“Yeah? Put him in my quarters then, I’ll ask Mingi to start a fire on my candles. We can’t just let him die, not a painful one like this. ” He felt a pull to that voice. A pull that had resonated, echoed to his soul that this is what you have been looking for all these years— _to be loved unconditionally, even though it is really early to say._

By the time morning had came, he was on a comfortable matress, with a shirt and pants on. He felt another’s presence beside him, and he slowly opened his eyes. From the layers and layers of hair, he could see another patch of black hair sitting on the chair beside him, eyes red but wide open— _it looked like he stayed up all night, staying vigil beside him._

“Hey,” He greeted. “You’re awake now. Breakfast is being made, hope you’re patient enough. And we patched you up, so in seven day’s time you should be back in the oceans again. Thank god one of us is a witch— _even though he’s super clumsy._ ”

Seonghwa frowned, but now he felt the restricting and tight bandages on all his scars, and he actually asked to himself; ‘ _Why did this man did not even ask why my scars are there in the first place?_ ’ But anyway, someone other than him, came into the room. The one who’s blind, and offered both foods.

“Thanks Yunho, did the fog clear?” Hongjoong asked, because he couldn’t see from the ship’s stained glass window behind him.

“I think so, the outlines were much clearer than last time. It wasn’t really thick either, I could navigate easily.”

The he heard a click.

“Yunho’s clicking because he’s blind, and by clicking, he knew where things were—he could see outlines of objects, even sometimes behind dense fogs and under the waters. We’re lucky to have him on board.” This, is the first time Seonghwa actually heard someone grateful of other’s disability. Even though it was certainly helping, but they couldn’t hide the fact that Yunho’s actually blind.

“Yunho was also the one who jumped into the waters to save you, he’s the first one to notice you floating around your own blood. Ah, yeah, I’m Hongjoong by the way. You’re on Sunrise, our ship, and we, as a whole team, are Ateez.”

_There. It’s Seonghwa…right? Let us see how the others are doing too, shall we?_

After having a rowdy night, Wooyoung was just ready to sleep in his shared quarter’s with San. He didn’t even have the enough energy to swim this morning, only glancing on the waters a bit, then heading back under to cook some food.

Next, he just plopped himself on the bed, ready to snooze until evening to cook dinner. He didn’t even bother to cook Yunho’s second breakfast, because he felt like the selkie could ask Mingi to reheat the meal Wooyoung had cooked. He doesn’t have any appetite, after seeing all the horrors and he felt just obligated to patch the black-tailed siren up.

“Wooyoungie, please eat. Your stomach’s gonna be mad at you,” San had brought the simple noodles and soup in both his hands, one for him and one for the other, but Wooyoung was not even answering.

“Come on, I know you’re sleepy, but you better eat because I can’t stand seeing you in pain,” This time, finally, the siren turned his head to meet San. He sat himself up, face scrawny, and mumbling a thanks to his roommate for bringing him food.

They both ate silently, San on the floor and Wooyoung on the bed, and the human couldn’t tear his eyes off for the now black-haired siren— _he fucking glows everyday. And San is too whipped to say the otherwhise._

On the other hand, Mingi and Yunho are practically already official. Although both denied being in love with each other, but the others could see the spark in Mingi’s eyes when Yunho’s around, and the extra chirpiness in Yunho’s voice when Mingi’s around. Yunho even sometimes gave his seal pelt whenever the night’s cold and the witch had to steer the helm or whenever he’s in night shift, it was a blatant display of trust, the selkie knew that Mingi would never take his seal skin away, and always returned it in the morning following.

As we talk about their realtionship’s statuses, we can’t simply forget our first one. Yeosang had been pining over Jongho for probably the longest time. No one had even been able to understand his real words— _because nobody could do sign language—_ and he was forced to just shook or nod his head on whatever the other sirens told him to do. Jongho… had been a different story. Jongho was the one who taught him how to vent all those out, and after all those years of anger and despair in his heart, he let them out one by one with writing and doing sign language. Jongho was the one who first sympathize, then empathized with him, so Yeosang felt he was falling into the inevitable spiral of love.

‘ _Sang-hyung, what are you thinking?_ ’ Jongho asked him silently when they were out for night shift.

‘ _You._ ’ Jongho contorted his face, wating to show the confusion, but then he only sighed and blushed.

‘ _Why though?_ ’ After seeing the sign Jongho had shown him, Yeosang could only giggle and his face got redder. At the end, he only shook his head, clearing his thoughts and watched over the horizon.

“Hyung, I wanna tell you something.” Jongho stood besode Yeosang, and the siren could only silently nod. He held Jongho’s hand, a sign for him to just get into the business.

“I… think I’ve fallen in love with you, hyung.” He whispered in the night air, hoping it would just vanish with the winds. But no, Yeosang heard all of it.

‘ _You sure it’s not only my face? What about my snarkiness and sarcasm?_ ’ Yeosang signed in front of Jongho, questioning everything that he had thought it was his second weakness.

“Hey, I’ve been with you for the longest time, Sang-hyung. I know you. Deep down you just want people to be the best of them, right? But you just couldn’t find the words, I get that, and the fuck with what they say, it doesn’t matter.” Yeosang now hates this man. He’s too perfect, too pure, and too positive for a wretched soul like him. “Who you truly are doesn’t change my decision, Sang-hyung.”

Yeosang felt his heart _fucking_ melt. How did he deserve someone like Jongho?

But his mind was shut when Jongho leaned forward—and a milisecond later he was having his first kiss stolen by the man in front of him. It was tender, and Jongho tasted like the calm sea breeze flowing in the night. Nobody could see them—this moment is only reserved for both, and will be treasured in their hearts.

Then, they heard the captain’s quarter’s door open. It was the long haired siren, with bandages still covering his body.

“Do you need something?” Jongho asked.

“Not really.” He replied. “Just need some fresh air.”

“Okay, we’ll be here, if you need us,”

But then, something out of the ordinary happened. Yeosang came over to Seonghwa, he took a pen and paper on the deck on his way, and greeted him with a writing.

_I’m Yeosang. And you?_

“I’m Seonghwa.” The siren didn’t know what got into him to just open up that easily.

 _He’s Jongho._ The writing said.

“Oh, nice to meet you guys. How old are you? I’m nineteen this year,”

 _I’m eighteen, Jongho is seventeen. But he sounds older than he looks, sometimes even complaining that his joints ache in the morning._ Seonghwa had involuntarily snorted when he saw Yeosang’s writing, and clearly drawing out a confusion from Jongho.

“Yah Sang-hyung! Don’t write anything funny about me!” But then Yeosang turned around, and signed; ‘ _Too late, I did._ ’ And before Seonghwa knew it, he’s seeing two people chasing around each other in the middle of the night.

“What did you write about me?! The last time was that I sound lika a parrot! What is it this time?!” He asked, still chasing Yeosang who’s silent all the time. But at the end Yeosang had let himself caught between the sturdy hands of Jongho.

“Lemme see, lemme see,” Jongho had read Yeosang’s handwriting, and he pretended to be shook. “I’m old?!” Jongho then pinched the siren’s puffy cheeks until he felt satisfied.

Seonghwa hadn’t seen something like this before. Their hearts filled with love and yearn to be with each other, and only ache more when they’re apart. He didn’t realized that he opened his third eye that night. By the time he did, both were already in front of his face, looking at it.

“Is that what I think it is?” He heard Jongho asked. Seonghwa had felt the urge of telling them the truth, but the words were stuck on his throat. “Is it the eye of Zenith?” Seonghwa could only nod, but instead of a slap, or anything hurting, he saw fascination in both of their eyes.

“Sang-hyung, we gotta tell Mingi about this! We’re closer to Matrinesse!” _Matrinesse? What do they want to do about it?_

“You’ll talk again Sang-hyung! And Yunho-hyung could see again! God I’m so happy!” Jongho jumped on the deck, and he saw Yeosang crying while hugging Jongho to calm himself down.

Seonghwa felt his third eye twitch, and as he opened it again… what Jongho said was genuine. He only had wanted the best for them, and he saw the others from under and the captain rush to the commotion.

“What’s with the jumping?” San asked, still half asleep with Wooyoung draped on his back. Mingi and Yunho were sharing the seal skin, and Hongjoong came out only wearing his pants.

“Mingi, good news. We have found the one with the third eye. It’s Seonghwa-hyung right there.”

Everyone seemed to be awoken by that sentence. Then seconds later they were surrounding Seonghwa, to see if what Jongho said had been true. Seonghwa finally gave in, and showed them his third eye.

It was the same as human eyes, but the irises had a midnight blue hue littered with little white specks— _like the clear night sky_.

“Gods, it’s beautiful.” He heard the captain say. “Will you stay with us? We’ll be okay if you won’t though, it’s your choice.” The others were solemnly hanging their heads down, but then Seonghwa could see their sincerity like Jongho’s heart did.

So he thought… maybe this is his destined place. Not in the seas nor the surface, but between.

“I’ll… I don’t know, but I’ll stay here for the time being until my wounds heal.” He felt a surge of happiness that spiked in their souls, nearly making his third eye hurt by how bright it was.


	6. to love again

The next morning, the crew warmly greeted him and brought breakfast to the extra quarter, because Seonghwa couldn’t stand invading Hongjoong’s personal space.

‘ _Can I braid your hair? I can’t stand seeing them falling in front of your face._ ’ Yeosang had written to him. “Sure, do whatever you please,”

He felt his hair being pulled back, and he couldn’t help but feel exposed— _even though he knew that the crew saw his third eye_ —but still, after all these years closing his heart, he finally had a place where he could be accepted.

Acceptance. It was the only thing he had yearned for.

Then he felt a tug, Yeosang had slung his hair to his own shoulder, making the black locks seen and looking very neat. He touched his own hair, feeling the bumps of the braid under his fingertips then thanked Yeosang.

To say that the crew were mesmerized by his new look, was insanely an understatement. Seonghwa’s high cheekbones were exposed, his plush, pink lips were shown, and his closed third eye only formed a slight bump and vertical slit on his forehead.

But they carried on their usual tasks, even giving Seonghwa some, and the day passed into the night again. Even though Seonghwa had practically spent his day sitting around and just cleaning some parts of the captain’s quarters, he organized all the manuscripts that seemed to be useful in categories, rolls after rolls tied together, and maps from the desk was moved to the wooden wall, so that they could see easier.

Seven days had passed. It passed so fast for Seonghwa, who had long days before. His wounds now were just pinkish flesh, healing rapidly within those days with the help of Mingi’s ointments. He felt like all the crew had made a place in his own heart, breaking away his walls brick by brick, then replacing them with happiness.

He had to make a decision, nevertheless. It’s for his own safety, and for theirs too. But his train of thoughts were snapped when Yunho, who’s far on the head on the ship, shouted that another ship was on the same tracks as them.

Ateez now was known by their black and orange striped flag, and they were heading to the northeastern seas, where the Utopian isles should be. The sirens on board proved to be menacing, and people who opposed are to be killed.

“Captain Kim!” As the other ship got closer, the other captain had called them. Choi Seungcheol, Seventeen, and their boat, Carat.

“Aye! Captain Choi! Where ye crew headin’?” Hongjoong looked like as if he were a different person. A real pirate captain, with his unruly attire and messy black hair that had braids and beads on.

“Haldean, me crew are gonna have a big feast after ruinin’ the Navy’s ship!”

Hongjoong only smiled, and saluted, and Seonghwa was mesmerized by how he could change personalities.

“Ya gotta fit the mold in the seas, my dear.” Hongjoong said, probably directed to him, because the captain saw how Seonghwa’s face contorted in confusion.

Hongjoong didn’t know if he was allowed to fall in love with a stranger. Sure, Seonghwa had talked to him about a few things, but, he wasn’t really ready to let go. _He was never, ready to let go_. Such a beautiful creature with an equally humble heart, he had long slipped into Hongjoong’s heart.

“Hey,” Seonghwa came in his room that night, and Hongjoong didn’t really know what to expect. Sure, Seonghwa was free to roam within his ship, but this is the last day, and he’ll be back to the seas whenever he’d like.

“Hm?” He shot his head up from the desk, hands still clasped together like praying.

“I… sensed your distress. What happened?” Seonghwa now had came in front of him, only the wooden desk seperating them.

“Nothing-” “You’re such a bad liar, you know that?” Hongjoong then looked at Seonghwa, he realized the third eye was open, and it stared at him with a judging look.

“I forgot that you have that. Gods…” Hongjoong looked like he was in the verge of crying, but he surpressed it by biting his lower lip.

_Hongjoong had never prioritized himself nor his heart. He never had answered his own personal heart’s calling, never satiated it, never gave in to it, because he simply believed that as the others are happy, he’ll be happy too._

Seonghwa could read him. He was like one of those manuscripts that had big, bold letters on it.

“Let’s talk, shall we?” Seonghwa asked, and he tugged Hongjoong’s sleeve. The captain just sighed, then let himself be controlled by a stranger for the night.

Seonghwa had learnt, that the best ways to be a normally functioning person with a heart is by talking the burden out. Even if it’s heavy, even if it’s very hard, it is okay. It’ll get better once they’re out, once the words are uttered, and maybe he could help. He knew this from the late old witch.

They sat on the bed, side by side, and before Hongjoong knew it, his hand was held firmly by Seonghwa. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“Where did you learn that expression?”

“I’ve lived a handful of years on the surface, and you’re getting off-topic.”

“Fine.” Hongjoong grumbled, he’s half grateful at this point. “Where do I even fucking start?” He sighed again, and saw Seonghwa with stars on his eyes waiting for him to talk.

“I know I have never been open, I’m basically a hermit. A lonely, pathetic hermit.” He took his pillow, and hugged it tight. “For so long, the others had coaxed me to open up. But I told them I’m perfectly fine. Like… perfectly fine. Mentally stable. Gods, I can’t believe I open up to some stranger-”

“You’re not a stranger, Hongjoong. And opening up isn’t bad. Really. I know sometimes it might scare you, that I looked like I can’t be trusted, but…at least be open to _them_. They’re already your family, and they clearly won’t treat you different after you open up,”

“I can’t-”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. If you’re not ready, you don’t have to today seeing your reaction like that,” Seonghwa finally gave up, and resorted to only telling his scars of the past. “I’m only gonna make you listen to something now. The scars that are on my skin when you found me, were from the sea sprites. A band of sea sprites, they wanted me dead, so that they are not cursed.” Seonghwa then opened his shirt, revealing his pinkish lines that are still looking fresh. “But then you guys found me, and accepted who I am, as a person and not just from this little bastard right here,” He pointed at his third eye sarcastically. “So I thought, I wanted to stay. Yes, I was afraid at first, being heartbroken and always turned away as a child,” Now Seonghwa’s hand was on Hongjoong’s again. “But then I realized I cannot simply please every people. Sometimes I got to look harder, squint harder, and swim farther to find where I really belong to. And I felt like I belong here. With all of you,”

Too much. It was too much for Hongjoong to swallow at once. “So… you’ll stay.”

“Yes, I will. I thought I made it clear?”

“Okay…. okay.”

When morning came, they were surprised that Seonghwa had stayed. They were so overjoyed—to the point where everyone is stacked on top of everyone. Hongjoong watched them fondly— _Seonghwa looked like mother hen and his baby chicks surrounding him_ —Wait, what was that?

“Join us hyung!” Hongjoong heard San call him, and he went there to join the group hug. What’s the harm though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u all for the kudos and the bookmarks, i do really appreciate that!! :)))


	7. to reveal the unseen

_It has been a long ride, hasn’t it? Well, I have more to show, and this time, our star is the darling witch and his seal pup._

“Mingi-ah!!” Yunho was banging the door to their room, probably wanting to show him something new again.

“Waddisit pup?” His baritone voice seeped through the cracks of the doors, seemingly excited for anything that Yunho had prepared for him. “Just come in please, I’m still transcribing,”

“By Calypso, you’ve been there for like, almost six hours! Take a break and get some fresh air with me!” Yunho said, because he felt the morning breeze hit his face when Mingi had first started, then the heat of the sun in the midday, now the dusk sitting close to night and Mingi is still stuck inside their room.

He clicked, and he still could see Mingi sitting down leisurely on their small desk. “Ya asked for it.” The selkie came in, with pouty lips and crossed hands, waiting for Mingi to see his seriousness.

“Wha- oh.” When Mingi saw sulky Yunho, he knew he had fucked up a big time. “Sorry pup,” He scooted over, and placed a small kiss on Yunho’s supple sheeks. “Better?”

“I’m still mad at you,” The pouty lips sits still. “Promise me you won’t overwork again?“

“Yeah pup, promise.” It was a slight peck on the lips, and Yunho felt enough. “Love you,” Yunho only hummed for the reply, then took Mingi out of their shared room to literally breathe some fresh air on the deck.

As much as they denied it, Mingi had confessed to Yunho on the second night that Seonghwa had stayed with them. The others were pretty much asleep for the night, except for Yeosang and Jongho, who’s out on their night watch.

The confession was nothing out of the ordinary, only a blurt out of feelings, but then Mingi was amazed when Yunho had leaned in for a kiss. They were still huddled under the selkie’s seal skin, and Mingi, being the now-boyfriend of Yunho, isn’t that dumb to reject the kiss. So they did it. Unknowingly the very same night Jongho and Yeosang did too.

By the time they reached out of deck, the skies were painted with yellows, reds, purples and blues, twilight had came too fast for Mingi, he hadn’t realized it. They were still holding hands, when they heard Jongho and Yeosang converse in very small and hushed voices.

“The sky is beautiful, I wish you could see it’s beauty, Yunho.” The human sighed, looking straight to those shiny pearl-like eyes.

“As much as you wished for it, I still am blind, Mingi my darling,” The selkie replied, still chuckling like it’s not something big.

They continued to stay silent, still holding hands as Mingi led Yunho to a lazy dance around the deck.

“Shall we dance?” Mingi offered his hand, and Yunho took it even before he clicked to see where it acually was.

“Whenever you’re ready, darling.”

“One two three four, one two three four,” Two pairs of boots padded on the same rhythm, and both minds in a different dimension as they move along and manuver slowly. Yunho had the dance stored in his memory, limbs moving with the flow of undersense and body moving by instinct. Those warm hands of Mingi’s guided him, he didn’t even click one single time, displaying his trust as they danced on the wooden platform.

Unbeknownst to them, the others had came over to watch them both dance, at awe of what they both could actually do—because Mingi and Yunho were never proud of what they could do, and only did it when the others are all asleep—they did it inside the comfort of their four walls of a room. Through twists and turns, they were able to execute it gracefully and skillfully like nobles do.

“What are you transcribing?” Yunho asked between their steps.

“The poem, it’s laced with magic. And it’s very confusing, I only managed to do one sentence, the others are way too hard for me to even decipher with latin.”

“Ooh, sounds neat, but there’s always tomorrow darling. You should rest for the day.”

“You think so? Okay then,”

The others didn’t miss the ‘darling’ between Yunho’s words. The rest were now convinced that both are together, and they just got enough evidence to say so. They both heard ‘aww’s from the back, but they cared less and carried on dancing, twisting and twirling their bodies, until their souls entangle to one.

“So you guys have been together all along!” He heard Wooyoung shout from the back, and the selkie could only nod in shyness as they are ending their waltz. The others had chuckled in amusement, seeing one of them getting together after so many years of knowing their other.

“You’re way better than Hwanwoong is,” Mingi said. “Back then you third-wheeled us, and that was when I was so young,” They now are taking a small walk around the ship, hands still intertwined tightly. “When Hwanwoong knew I had a blind friend, he talked bad about it, to the point where he asked me; ‘ _What benefit could you really get from having a blind friend?_ ’ I was offended, of course, so I ended the relationship.” He then kissed the tip of Yunho’s nose, startling the older for a brief second.

Seeing that, Seonghwa’s heart felt it was dancing around mocking him for not getting on this ship earlier. He felt both Yunho and Mingi had so very genuine feelings, and it hurt him that he used see his mother, father, or whoever’s around him had none for each other—as if marrying is an obligation.

“Guys…” Jongho started. Yeosang looked like he was bashful about what Jongho was about to say, and playfully slaps the younger’s hand a handful of time before stopping to see if the latter regretted it. No, Jongho still pushed forward, so he reluctantly backed behind the other.

“Me and Yeosang are also together,” The ship turned into something resembling of an apocalypse hearing four of their crewmates had already got together. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!” Yeosang heard Wooyoung curse so loud, the ship nearly rattled.

“CONGRATULATIOOOONS!!” Wooyoung was so ecstatic, he jumped and jumped and jumped, the ones who were congratulated could only shake their heads in dissapointment and embarassment. Yeosang quickly puts Wooyoung to his place— _inside a headlock—_ and then playfull tightened it.

“Ugh… what the bloody hell does this even mean?” Mingi grumbled, he was still sitting down his stool, thin-rimmed glasses perched on his tall nose, and fountain pen steadily held in his right hand.

 _‘you shall not see the golds and jewels.’_ “What golds and jewels?”

Yunho was still asleep at the time, and woken up suddenly by Mingi’s voice.

“Darling?” Yunho asked, because he was sure that he got Mingi anchored to their shared bed with his hands—and now he’s freed.

“Yes pup? A little more? Please? Can’t get this off my head.” 

“Nah I don’t think so. C’mere,”

Mingi pretended that he didn’t care, but his moral compass had suddenly shrieked to him to come back and just obey his pup. He was having an internal conflict, and he ended up just opening his coat, then laid beside Yunho.

“There you go darling, nice and warm.” Yunho patted his thick seal skin on both of them, creating an extra layer of warmth for the cold nights in October. The selkie then placed a kiss to Mingi’s forehead, nose and lips, before drifting off to sleep together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm a big sucker for yungi. periodt.


	8. to tell the untold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is alternatively titled: a confession to make.
> 
> ah yeah, thanks for the kudos and comments! I really do appreciate them! :))

They were having a very nice dinner night out on the deck on a fine October night. Wooyoung and Seonghwa cooked hearty meals for all of them, as if congratulating all of the crew for getting to this point, together. The oldest siren had officially declared himself as the mother of them— _including Hongjoong, though sometimes he acts like a father alongside Seonghwa as well_.

The children, or as Seonghwa would phrase his crewmates, were a little calmer than usual, probably because of the colder night and unreliable weather patterns that tire them more easily now than merely weeks ago. The boat was not even swaying—the waves today is surprisingly calm even though yesterday was the windiest ever up to this point.

They were sitting down, San beside Wooyoung, Yeosang beside Jongho, Yunho on Mingi’s lap, and the last, Seonghwa beside Hongjoong in the circle. They were still chatting randomly, until at one point, the only witch in the group asked the difference between mermaids and sirens.

“You want to know?” Wooyoung asked, because he seemed to know the answer.

“Why the fuck not at this point?”

“You sure are bold, witch,”

“Aye,”

All of them laughed at Mingi’s response, the clumsy witch looked like he was tipsy even though he’s not. At all. Hongjoong didn’t even allow them to drink a sip of rum at this wee hour, he said it’s only reserved for treating wounds and cold winters.

“So… as you know, there are many different type of sea creatures right? But mermaids and sirens are the most well-known and the most common— _even though it’s rare to meet face to face—_ but well, there’s a difference, both in physiology and social life.

Basically, mermaids are siren’s ancestors. They can communicate, but through something you can’t really hear or understand. They are also more primitive, staying close to each other, migrating every year, and they cannot breath on air, unlike us sirens. Sirens are… what you call a cross breed, actually. When mermaids first mated with humans, they realized that their children had tails, but could also turn into humans, so that’s where sirens are actually born. Mermaids have longer tails than us, and their gills are placed on their hips, unlike ours which is on the neck. Mermaid’s teeth are also sharp, like, all of them are sharp, meanwhile us, we only have two extra set of fangs behind our first two sets. Does that satisfy your curiousity?” Wooyoung felt like fainting, because this is the first time he actually rambled and explained everything in front of them all like this, and he’s nearly our of breath.

“I have a question. Is it true that all mermaids are females?” Now, it’s San who asked.

“It is indeed true. How they reproduce is simple, they sired the baby themselves, only to give birth to a baby female again and again and again. Sirens cannot sire babies on themselves, however, so that’s why male sirens do exist even though they could carry as well. Was my explanation weird San-ah?”

“No, not at all. Hey, the moon’s high, we should probably go back to sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be the day we land on another port, take another bounty, and restock our rescources.”

They were quickly dismissed, but Hongjoong stayed on the deck, and Seonghwa noticed that.

“What’s on your mind?” Seonghwa asked him, even though he could read the captain’s true intention with ease.

“Just… read it.”

“I don’t read minds, idiot. I could only see one’s true intentions, not one’s full route of thinking.”

“Ugh… you know what? I’m tired.” Hongjoong then left Seonghwa, to which the siren followed to his room.

“Why are you here?” Hongjoong asked, even though there’s no poison latched to his words, Seonghwa could feel the pain from the lies Hongjoong had uttered. He could see, that Hongjoong was actually grateful to have someone other than him that he could express his concerns to, but then again, his ego doesn’t allow it to happen.

“I’m here to hear you out. I’ve been sensing sadness ever the past few days, what happened?”

“Oh, you don’t have to know.” _Lies. Lies again. He wanted to be heard._

“Don’t lie to me, it’s useless.”

“What the fuck do you even want? You think you could win this argument by your oh so-beautiful face and your third eye? It’s my problem, and you don’t get to fuck it up more. Go away, sleep.”

“Fine, be my guest. But I’m still open anytime you want to talk, I’ll be in my room.” His long legs guided itself out the room, and once Hongjoong closed the door, he sighed the loudest ever in his life. Hongjoong was always ever so reluctant to share his thoughts, and Seonghwa could just imagine how tired his heart felt.

Inside, the captain is currently having an internal battle whether he should or should not tell Seonghwa that he liked the siren— _and he’s tired_.

‘ _Should I? Or should I not?_ ’ He was thinking about that. And every time that phrase popped into his mind, he couldn’t close his eyes, he’s become restless. He felt his foot wanting to take a walk, he felt his heart strained with an ache to go out and vent all his problems out.

‘ _I can’t do this, I have to be strong._ ’

He heard a splash somewhere, and hurriedly went out—in case something had happened. Indeed, something had happened.

Seonghwa was inside the water, his milky torso was the only thing that could be seen from above as his jet black tail and inky hair camouflage in the dark waters. He was slowly swimming down, down, down, until he was not seen again. Hongjoong waited by the boat’s side, keeping his eyes in the water as he studied the waves beneath Sunrise. ‘ _Seonghwa wasn’t in his room,_ ’ He realized.

Then, he heard a scream. It was loud, it even prenetrated out from the water and sent it flying to the deck. Next, came Seonghwa with another being—looking exactly like Seonghwa but a female, and the siren clawed her hands off his body. Blood floated around the deck, and before Hongjoong knew it, he saw something he shouldn’t see.

Seonghwa’s teeth were sharp—all of them. His gills were both on his neck and hips, his long hair was pulled back until his forehead was seen with his third eye opened blearily. Hongjoong then heard a hiss—coming out from Seonghwa’s lips—it seemed like he was speaking another tongue.

“ _Get off me mother!_ ”

“ _No! You must not get away from us! The witches could put a good use to your purposeless existence! They could make you strong! They could make you next in line for the throne, if you could have just agreed to sacrifice your third eye to them!_ ”

“Never.” Hongjoong heard the siren said. “Never over my dead body!! And my existence isn’t purposeless—I know now, and my purpose lies on that ship, third eye included—so no, I’ll never sacrifice this—because I have sacrificed my whole life already.” His mother seemed to understand what he’s saying, but she can’t fire back—she was shut. “Good bye, mother. My love is waiting on the surface. And you will hear stories about the ship with sirens after this.”

She stayed there, watching her son as he slipped away for eternity, feeling no remorse, never hoping for his to return, and would be happy to hear his news of death. Hongjoong then noticed tears slipping away from the siren’s eyes, he was sobbing—but then drowned himself under the water for some time until he felt the tears were cleared.

Hongjoong was still waiting, searching for Seonghwa as the siren ever so carefully turned himself back to his human looks, then climbed the stairs to the deck. Mingi had made sure to place a charm on Seonghwa’s soul so that everytime he turns, he doesn’t have to discard his clothes, and it goes the same when he turn back—the clothes will be dry in a whim.

“Why are you still awake?” Seonghwa was concerned, since Hongjoong looked like he was about to sleep anytime soon.

“Can’t sleep.”

“Oh.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Seonghwa asked, still looking at Hongjoong with concern while tying his hair back to a simple ponytail.

“Not really—or can I talk to you.. on the rowboat? I need somewhere really private-”

“Sure. Whatever makes you comfortable.” Hongjoong was not sure what got the siren so quick to agree, but he pulled the rowboat from it’s place, crashed it in the water, then both went down to sit. Hongjoong had forgotten to bring his oars—but suddenly the man in fron of him was already in the water, pushing the boat with his steady hands against the small waves.

“I have a confession to make.”

Seonghwa only nodded, his lower half still submerged in the water, and hands on the side of the boat keeping both steady. Hongjoong saw this sign for him to talk, and he started.

“I think… I have fallen in love with you. I’ve never had a relationship before—gods, I’ve never liked someone this much before but, yeah,” Hongjoong was already hiding his face behind his palms, but then he felt cold ones touch him.

“Did you hear me… when I was talking earlier with a hissing voice?”

Hongjoong silently nodded.

“I want to tell you a story. Might be long, but… I think it would be worth it.” Seonghwa was still gently holding Hongjoong’s hand, then looked to the horizon as the stars come out.

“Let’s call the main character… Star.

Star was born in the lines of nobility—his mother a mermaid and father a siren. He’s had this… weakness, and despite his title—he had always had been a subject of torture. Never spoke out, and learnt manners in a hard way. His mother thought… that at least the boy had some manners because his flaws are going to get in the way. He grew up scared, and he ran away from what he was obligated to call ‘home’.

Star then met this, really old man, he was a witch, and he was taken care of for years. When the old man died… Star was left alone, again. But the old man had taught him to talk, to read and to write, so he wrote letters and letters of his worries, and while the old witch was alive, he’d read it before both of them sleep.

After some time, he saw a ship.

This ship, was small, but their aura is big—filled with happiness, filled with joyous laughs and boisterous voices. At first, Star was… afraid. Afraid of the openness, afraid of how they will react to his flaw. Star then was amazed by how they treated him with love and care, he heard the captain say ‘ _We can’t just let him die, not a painful one like this.’_

And then… Star kind of fell in love with the captain. He was nice, cute, but very dominant when it comes to his captain duties, commanding every member to do their job correctly. But alas, he still has a soul, and he’s afraid,” Then, Hongjoong felt the cold hand touching his face.

“Star wants to kiss the captain’s worries away, but will the captain allow him?”

That—that sentence, struck him like a thunder. _Smooth motherfucker._

“Yes, starboy, the captain allows _you_.” He said with a breathy voice. It was foreign to Hongjoong—Seonghwa’s lips were cold like the waters, but soft and warm after some time. It was not lust—not like what Hongjoong had seen when he entered those pubs in midnights only to see people making out in the corner. This, wasn’t like that. He felt…warmth. Loved, appreciated, and home.

“Love you, my dear captain,” Seonghwa said after they broke the kiss.

“Love you too, starboy,” Hongjoong felt his burden relieved, one by one started to slip away from his shoulders as he looked at Seonghwa’s eyes.

“You feel better now?” The siren asked.

“Yeah. Thank you, Seonghwa. Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you?”

“Love me back, that’s all I need. Let us strengthen each other, be the driving force for each other, and be the ones that would accept any of our weaknesses.”


	9. two souls, four bodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically seongjoong and woosan here :)

Hongjoong and Seonghwa had ended up sleeping in the captain’s quarters. Hugging each other close, feeling safe in the other’s embrace.

And Seonghwa had got to know what it felt like to be genuinely loved by someone— _or something close to being loved by a lover_. They had woken up pretty early in the morning—the sun hasn’t yet risen, and yesterday was a day off for night duty, so nobody really saw their confession.

“You know what my mom said yesterday?” Seonghwa asked randomly while he felt fingers ran through his long black locks.

“What? Something bad?”

“You could say that,” The movement stopped, and Seonghwa felt Hongjoong’s eyes stared at him with disbelief.

“What kind of person calls themselves mother if they don’t accept their child as who they are?”

“I was obligated to call her mother, Hongjoong. I could assure you that I never wanted to.”

“Good.” The hands continued caressing his hair, and Seonghwa smiled contentedly.

“You know, I was actually the next in line for the throne,” After a long period of silence, Hongjoong finally took what Seonghwa said as serious. “The prince of Boreal from the northeastern seas— _well, technically crown prince but the others stripped the title off me because of the third eye_ —and I kinda don’t like that title.”

Boreal. It rang a bell in Hongjoong’s mind. It was a legend; if you foud a mermaid or a siren of Boreal— _the secret kingdom of the creatures—_ you’d be blessed by their stunning beauty and brilliant minds. But meeting the crown prince just elevated all that legends. Seonghwa was an ace in magics, he helped Mingi most of the time, and even teaching the younger some of the lesser-known spells, which adds to his intelligence. His beauty is timeless—it looked like the gods were sculpting his face with gentle love and care, and adds another point to the legends said.

“Oh gods…” It was the only thing Hongjoong could say.

“I’m not some brat, relax. I do enjoy cleaning and doing some chore rather than being some extra useless baggage here.”

Hongjoong could only hug Seonghwa tighter—he wanted his star to feel like he was meant to be loved, and he’s now freed from the shackles that had once tied him in place.

“Hey Joong,” The captain turned his eyes to his caller.

“Yeah?”

“When’s your night shift?”

“Every first, third, and fifth day of the week, why?”

“We have eight people here, we could take turns every night, why don’t you rest more?”

“I’m not sure how they’ll react though-”

“They’ll be fine, trust me. I’m fine with it too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The order would be you, and me, then Yeosang and Jongho, Yunho, San, Mingi, and finally Wooyoung. I’ll put Jongho and Yeosang together, they can’t live without each other.” Seonghwa giggled— _and it was so fucking cute that Hongjoong nearly kissed him._

Their door was barged by Mingi that morning. Both were still soundly cuddling and sleeping again, but was disturbed by the witch. “What the fuck happened here?”

“Love happened.” Seonghwa answered with his still-sleepy voice.

“Yeah, it happened.” Hongjoong was there to support Seonghwa’s statement, and then seconds later, everybody screamed their lungs out of the news.

“Could one of you do the steering? Hongjoong’s still tired.” Seonghwa said, and Yeosang voluntarily took the job on the helm for the captain.

“Stay, starboy.” Hongjoong asked him to when Seonghwa was about to go out the door.

“I’ll bring breakfast, and I’ll stay after that, okay?” The siren compromised, and the latter agreed.

“You confess or Hongjoong confess?” Wooyoung asked out of the blue.

“Captain did. When do you plan to… you know… do the same to San?”

“I don’t know. I need to wait for the right moment…”

“Sometimes the right moment is just seconds away, remember that alright?” Seonghwa patted Wooyoung’s shoulder, then came out bringing along with him two plates of food.

“Hey captain, breakfast’s here,” Hongjoong was still inside his duvet, curling his body and light snores were heard across the room. Seonghwa then placed the food in the middle of the table, scooting over to the sleeping mass on his right to wake him up.

A kiss in the cheek, a kiss on the nose tip and another on the lips surely got Hongjoong woken up. The captain smiled even when he still close his eyes, and successfully makes his kisser blush. “Aw, someone’s eager and bold today,”

“No, I’m not,”

“Don’t lie to me baby,” Hongjoong then brushed the hair that had curtained Seonghwa’s face, clearing his view of the magnificent face.

“Cut your hair. You’ll look good in short, I promise you that.” Hongjoong said while they ate. It was a nice meal, it was Wooyoung’s cooking after all—it’d always taste good anyway. Seonghwa wasn’t sure on cutting his hair short, though, because he had kept it long for these past years.

“You really think it’d suit me?” He asked again, making sure that his decision will not have an affect on anything in the future.

“Trust me starboy, you won’t regret it.” Hongjoong already held his scissors, preparing himself mentally not to mess up.

“I have cut Wooyoung and Yeosang’s hair monthly, so I should know how to do it. But I think I’m gonna give you an undercut and long bangs now.” Seonghwa had sat on the stool, the captain behind him, and slowly but surely, black locks started falling off with ease.

Hongjoong wasn’t sure how it’d look like on Seonghwa, but he could only imagine it. Until the siren turned his head, of course. He looked stunning. Gorgeous. Angelic. But hellish, at the same time. He looked like a statue that was carved gently— _a gem perfectly cut._

“Holy fucking shit,” That remark had made Seonghwa somehow afraid. “You look so fucking ethereal Seonghwa.”

He looked at his reflection on the nearby mirror, and he didn’t even recognize himself. ‘ _Who is this that I am looking at?_ ’ He thought. But then he felt a chin resting on his shoulder blade, pulling him out of his own trance.

“What do you think, starboy? You like it?” Hongjoong asked him. “I do, captain.”

The others fawned over Seonghwa the second he came out of the room. They studied his features—the high cheekbones, the plump lips, and the doll like eyes that were curtained by his long veil of hair was now displayed and framed tightly by his short hair. It sure looked timeless for Seonghwa.

Hongjoong was quietly enjoying his time steering the helm when he felt two arms wrapped around his waist, and a head rested itself to his shoulder— _he didn’t have to guess who that is, it had to be Seonghwa, well, who else honestly?_

“What is it starboy?” He asked, eyes still fixated on their course.

“Nothing. Just wanted to report that my duty of the day had finished already. And Mingi gave me a charm to hide my third eye, so I could help you guys in the ports.”

“Did he tell you what exactly we do on the ports?” Hongjoong asked again.

“Yeah. We’ll become mercenaries at night, and merchants at day. Sounds quite fun. How long will we stay?”

“Seven days, at most. We have a travelling agent for our bounties, Maddox, been working for us since months ago. He’s a nice person. ”

“Oh yeah, what do you guys usually sell at day though?”

“Hmm? Some goods in exchange for money, usually from ships we took down.”

Seonghwa didn’t leave—he stayed in that position for a good time, before finally it’s San’s turn to steer the helm. The other boy looked at them in awe, because finally the captain had someone to lean on for the first time in years.

“Don’t be a pussy, don’t be a pussy,” San kept chanting that while he was steering the helm, and he didn’t realize Wooyoung had brought him food for dinner.

“San-ah?” Wooyoung was wearing a black loose silk shirt that he bought the other day, with a choker and tight pants—and San had nearly regretted his decision to confess to day.

“Y-yeah?”

“It’s dinner, you might wanna take a breather.”

He did, take a break. Only to third-wheel the others and the love radiating in the atmosphere near them made him almost choke on thin air alone—it’s like a violent reminder that he still had that kind-of unrequited love.

“Hey, you seem off San-ah, what happened?” Wooyoung asked. The siren looked so fucking gorgeous, and San just wanted to praise him like a god—which Wooyoung deserved to be treated that way.

“N-no, it’s nothing,” He brushed it off easily, but Wooyoung was not that dumb to believe it.

“Liar~”

“It’s not your business Wooyoung,”

“Hm? Really?”

“Can we… talk in our room?” San finally steeled himself to confess. Wooyoung nodded, it must’ve been something private.

As soon as the door was closed, San pulled Wooyoung close and kissed him straight in the lips, because he hasn’t been able to say it, got frustrated, and he thought; ‘ _fuck it,_ ’

San wasn’t ready in the part where Wooyoung kisses back though, because it was totally not in his ‘script’—he thought that Wooyoung would actually reject him right away—which wasn’t the case.

“ _You dense fucker,_ ” Wooyoung hissed after they broke apart, faces nearly touching, and San was beyond afraid of what is going to be next.

“Who has ever fucking said that I don’t like you back, huh?” Then Wooyoung kissed San again by grabbing his collar. The older seemed to like it—pouring all those reluctant feelings—and melted their body into one. Their tongue were dancing togother, moving in sync as the siren’s hand found itself on the man’s hair, tugging it to kiss him deeper.

Something inside of San sparked, it ignited all his heart, setting it ablaze with warmth that he had never felt all those years ago. All he had was cold, cold and cold, but never like this—warm, fuzzy and so very addicting.

“I see purple in you. Blue is where your home is, and the red is the warmth you gave me. Like a fire in a cold day and water in the summer heat, you truly are a miracle Wooyoung.” San whispered it to his ear, making the siren blush at the sweet endearments.

“But I’m a monster, San,”

“Not every mermaid or siren or any creature outside humans are monsters, and not all humans are good. That’s what makes you, you. Not a monster, okay?”

“I-it’s not like that,” Wooyoung sighed. “I’m different. My physical body isn’t like this.” He paused again, in the verge of crying when San cradled him close, swaying their bodies together while slowly caressing Wooyoung’s back softly.

“It’s okay. As long as you are still you, then I don’t care anymore. As long as you are the Wooyoung I know and love.” San pressed a chaste kiss on Wooyoung’s temple, and the dam broke. The siren sobbed on his lover’s shoulder, still not ready for what’s coming next. “And I would still love you like I do now.”


	10. certain uncertainty

As the day got into night, land was spotted by Jongho who’s at the crow’s nest, warning the crew to get ready in their clothes.

Ateez usually had their black uniform, silver chain mask and black fedora hat on, making them recognisable as one of the most unusual, yet successful bounty hunters out there. And as their reputations grow, more and more people started to take interest—and started making orders.

“Maddox said he’ll be in the Honeybee inn, room 18, the usual. And please call each other by aliases, we make no room for identification and mistakes. Stay sharp, use powers if needed.” Hongjoong briefed them. “Shadow is for Yeosang, as he creeps up to people with no noise, Phoenix is for Mingi because he basically can’t die— _even out of his own clumsiness_ —Yunho’s Clicker, Wooyoung is Violet, San is Sierra, Libre is for Jongho, and Phobos for me. Choose one for you.”

“I think… Mars. The god of war in another culture’s mythology.”

“Okay, then Mars it is.”

Their uniform were custom-sized, and even Seonghwa was mesmerized when he got his, because it fitted his body like a glove.

The moment Sunrise had docked in, loud shouts were heard and a commotion was caught on the port. They chanted: _‘Ateez! It’s Ateez! The cursed pirates and their sirens are here! Make way!_ ’ Seonghwa was surprised of their reputation. Cursed pirates and their sirens. What a joke—they are more than just that. Hongjoong landed his foot lightly on the dock, and people immediately scooted away in fear—creating a curved distance between them and the outsiders. The rest of them landed there too, and all walked fast in uniform steps as they march to the inn.

The owner knew them—they were his _habitue,_ his regulars, that paid more than enough each night they stayed, so he didn’t ask a thing. He let them in to their usual room, not even locked, and all just came in without saying anything.

When the door creaked open, a man, with similar outfit with them was sitting on a bed. Seonghwa had a good feeling about this man, he must be a man of dignity on his tongue.

“Maddox, I have brought ill tidings.” Hongjoong joked, and the man simply hugged the latter.

“I have both good and bad news for us. Which one do you want to hear?”

“Bad one first, let’s see how this will effect our good news.” Jongho answered wisely, and Maddox began telling them.

“Bad news is, our bounty is a known man. The navy general on this port has so many influence, that even I, have been suspected of attempted assassination by his underlings.”

“Oh… that is… not certainly what I expected— _or even we, expected._ ” Mingi said.

“But the good news is,” Maddox paused, creating silence between all of them. “Our client is the governor himself. He had heard the Ateez from his friends, rumours and all the other… mouths, shall I say, and is interested to meet you. Tomorrow morning in his office, I was informed. And I’m certain this is not a trap.”

“Okay. Let’s take all the rest that we need, there are four rooms upstairs. Room seven to ten should be ours as per usual.” Hongjoong said.

As Seonghwa and Hongjoong began to strip and change their clothes, their room was knocked with something more resembling of like a morse code.

“Seungwan?” Seonghwa whispered. It was his elder sister, but why was she here?

“I know you’re there Seonghwa, can I come in?” She said in a hushed voice, barely heard through the thick wooden door.

Seonghwa did not answer, instead he opened it and yes, it was Seungwan. Hongjoong was only clad in his undershirt and black pants, meanwhile Seonghwa had already changed into his night clothes.

“She’s my sister, Captain.” Before Hongjoong could ask, he was answered.

“Listen Seonghwa-” She looked frightened, as if something was chasing after her. “Silverwave had initiated a war against Boreal.”

Seonghwa’s breath hitched, because Silverwave is known as the merciless mermaid kingdom of the west, meanwhile Boreal is the protector of the north.

“What are they aiming as their war prize?” He asked.

“You. _The one with the third eye. The beautiful prince of the north._ Utopia is in danger, and father had ordered me to make sure you’re away.”

“What? So he could claim the prize of Utopia for himself?”

“Unfortunately, yes. And I have less time now, Joohyun-eonni and Sooyoung must’ve been searching for me already. Be safe, brother.”

“Thank you, noona. Be safe too. Farewell, for now.”

After Seonghwa had bid his goodbye, Seungwan smiled joylessly, and went out the room.

“What the hell was that?” Hongjoong asked, still clueless about the situation. Seonghwa looked at him with a tired face, and plopped himself down to the bed while sighing.

“I’ll just need you to listen as I explain everything— _again_ , okay?”

So Hongjoong sat down beside Seonghwa, his right arm encircled the siren’s thin waist as he waited for the explanation.

_What if I told you, that everything in the story about Utopia was a lie?_

That is what exactly what Seonghwa asked to the captain. What if, everything that they had told you, was a lie?

_The three siblings, weren’t actually siblings. They are very close, until some people mistook them as siblings. Zenith was a half-born—between a mer and a siren, Aucteraden was a blind selkie, and Matrinesse, was a mute siren. The part where Matrinesse sounded like an angel, and was envied until she was made mute was the only thing true inside that story. The people, also had forgotten someone so very dear to the three—their leviathan Violet. Four of them had fell in love with men—Zenith fell for a king, and the others, had fell for noblemens too that were close to the king. That is why they were despised in the first place by their own race._

_In the beginning, their love was reciprocated back—_ or it felt like it was _—as four of the men had let them swim once a week on the kingdom’s waters. But as time comes and goes, truth started to seep out of their mouths as they trusted their lovers. Zenith showed her third eye to her man—but the man was evil. She was then locked inside the castle tower, unable to tell her friends nor see anything to the outside world. She regretted that she didn’t open her third eye the first time they met, and their meetings afterwards. Love can be blinding._

_One by one, her friends died. The siren and the selkie were killed, meanwhile Violet killed herself—she doesn’t want to be a weapon of war. Zenith was outraged—she cursed the king, and the whole kingdom to die in the upcoming war. She jumped off the tower before the king could make her into another weapon of war, and their soul, roamed the seas searching for true love._

_Utopia was created as a sanctuary by Zenith when they were alive. Where they could go to unnoticed, where they could find solace in the harsh human world. Their souls came back there too. The three hidden isles of Utopia, the ones that had a prize, if you were to pass their tests._

_No one has ever been able to pass them, even if they were the reincarnations of the four, because the men that they loved, didn’t love them back._

“And that’s how it goes. My kingdom was the only kingdom to know where the isles exactly are, because my ancestors used to be one of Zenith’s blood sibling, and created this kingdom to ensure the isle’s safety.” Hongjoong could only stay silent. Because now it made sense.

“Hongjoong?” Now Seonghwa looked at him with concern sparking within his two eyes.

“Yeah? Oh god sorry I spaced out…”

“I-it’s okay.”

“It felt right loving you, Hwa.” Hongjoong kissed his knuckles, then pulled it gently so that their lips meet in the middle. “I have been such a burden to you, but you accepted me as who I am, so, it is right for me to love you back as your real self too.”

Zenith’s soul inside of him had ignited a spark. A beautiful, bright red color, that had set his heart ablaze yet again. _‘He’s sincere’_ She said in his heart. ‘ _I wish my lover was a man like Hongjoong, but I can’t turn back time._ ’


	11. hunter hunts their prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So, I wanna explain something here for a little bit, okay? 
> 
> So as you know, this story has the legends, right? I made it myself, so if there's anything similar in other stories that I am not aware of, let me say sorry in advance. Please also note that I only get the lore's inspiration from 'see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil'.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONED NON-CON RAPE, BLOOD, INJURY, AND DEGRADATION

The next morning, they had some time before meeting the governor in the midday, so Seonghwa explained everything to them. And now San had understood why Wooyoung said he’s a monster. He’s the leviathan. The great chaos, but also the great protector of the sea. His clan was within Boreal’s borders, but it was wiped out by a rivaling clan to capture the last lineage of his family—the one who had leviathan’s blood running in their veins. Wooyoung managed to escape as the last leviathan to Yeosang’s neighboring pod, so both became friends, and the rest is history.

Mingi and Yunho also told the truth about their past. Yunho was an orphan found drifting in the seas when the human’s father found him. He was blind from the start, but he thought maybe the selkie could be his son’s friend, and so they were. Mingi’s father was the leader of a coven, widely known as Nightwalkers, and he was sent to study abroad when an accident happened and he was captured by pirates along with Yunho—because one of his rivaling covenmate set the ship on fire, then put a spell on him to restrict his magic and escaped—leaving Mingi to die. Yunho saved him from drowning, and that is how they both ended up here. The man still wrote letters to his dad every now and then, telling him the truth and his whereabouts.

“Let’s finish this job then, after that we’ll pack up and leave for good. Seonghwa will be my first mate, so if anything happens to me, reach him, okay?” Hongjoong said after looking at the time. “Yes captain.”

“Suit up guys,” San said, seemingly excited of this mission.

They walked tall with their suits on, leaving all the people amazed and at the same time terrified—and they’re coming to the governor’s office, who knew what’s going to happen to the old man there.

Mingi’s acting as the fake captain, as his voice and height more convincing than that of Hongjoong’s.

“We wish to see the governor.” He said to one of the guards. The latter was afraid, and shakily guided them to the said man’s office. It was simple, as Seonghwa could see, the governor’s not a person of greed. He was lean and looked not too old, which was really difficult to obtain once you become a part of the ruling class.

“Ateez, I presume?” The governor asked. “I’m governor Moon Taeil.”

“Governor Moon, we’d like to keep ourselves incognito, if you allow us to. Just call me Phoenix.”

“Ah yes, I allow you to. As long as you get the job done, alright?”

“Yes, governor.”

He had explained that the general, Kim Dongyoung, had been plotting to make a coup and wreak havoc inside his peaceful seaside town. But eliminating him won’t do, because he had so much influence—as Maddox explained earlier, so the governor wanted Ateez to capture him alive and bring him back to this place.

If death could not be avoided, he’s okay, but the paycheck isn’t as much than if they were to bring him alive. Taeil also promised not to tell that this was Ateez’s doing, and they’d be welcomed in his town whenever they docked in again.

They have seven days to complete the bounty, and Hongjoong did not waste time to start it right now. Maddox had collected enough information of the general, and it was said that he would go to the local taverns to drink and occasionally fuck— _as corrupted men would do._

Their plan was to attract the general out the pub with one of the members acting as a decoy, then bring him to the office at night where he’d be tied.

“I could be the decoy if you want,” Wooyoung suggested. San looked distressed, but the siren pecked his lips to make sure that he’s not going to cheat.

“I’d need to make a potion though, so Wooyoung will look like a woman, and there’s no guarantee that his men wouldn’t follow to like… you know, gangbang or something?” Mingi suggested.

“Then Yeosang would be outside to assassinate the remaining others.” Jongho said. “It’s his own idea.”

“It’s settled then, if there were anybody to follow him, then Yeosang should knock them down. No killing. Agree?” Hongjoong compromised.

“Yeah.”

They had started their bounty the next evening. All had settled to stock up in the morning, and identifying their victim closely before dealing with him, so that they could do their assigned job flawlessly.

“You know what Wooyoung? You look so darn adorable.” They said when the potion had already begun to take it’s effects. The siren’s hair was long and wavy, and his body was plump—perfect to seduce any men who’d go to the taverns.

San was peppering Wooyoung’s face with kisses, wishing him luck, and secretly wishing that the general wouldn’t fuck him right then and there. The siren wore something to accentuate his looks, and the potion were to last for another four hours.

“You’re a new whore here huh? Never seen you before,” The general, as expected, was young, charming and handsome. But with a dirty mouth. Wooyoung was continously touched by those filthy hands, and before long, he was tailed when he went out the tavern.

Yeosang was in the alleyway where Wooyoung said he’ll take whoever tails him, which is the general and two of his men. San was also accompanying Yeosang, because he wanted to make sure that Wooyoung would be in good hands before any of the people could touch him.

As soon as the siren turned into the corner, both of his crewmates had taken the other two down ever so silently, leaving their victim of the day alone, and unarmed. Both of the men’s throats were slit open, leaving a pool of blood as the general left them for Wooyoung.

“Where are you going whore? I thought it’d be fun if we settled on a quick fuck around here,” He said, not knowing there are two bloodthristy people behind him wanting to knock him down. Before he could say another sentence, he was knocked down with a powerful blow on the neck by San, successfully making him black out for a good while.

“Thanks love,” Wooyoung said, then pulling out a rope that he hid underneath his layers of gowns.

“Quickly now,” They tied him, and San being a gentleman he is, carried Doyoung on his own to the governor’s place via a secret route. All of them agreed to just drop the person off to the governor’s place, take the money given, and make a quick trip to the boat where the others are waiting.

“Could you please keep an eye on him, Yeosang? I just need to be in for a moment.” Said asked him, because Wooyoung was notorious for wandering around whenever he sees something that piqued his interest.

After what had been hours— _well, to be fair, it as only five minutes, but Wooyoung’s constant whining about his boobs were enough to make a minute seemed like an hour to Yeosang_ —San came back holding a big bag of gold coins.

“We’re good to go.” He said, then escorting the two sirens back to the ship. Nobody was there, as Yeosang could feel with his magic, and they jogged back just in time before Jongho could lift the anchor and leave them.

San left the bag in the captain’s quarters, counted it again, and took his and Wooyoung’s ration back to their quarters as he left the other’s ration seperated.

Wooyoung was already in his night clothes, but he had already changed back as the potion had worn off, so he’s back to his male siren form as usual, and more beautiful this way. The siren had took off the necklace that hid his purple hair, so now those fluffy lavender locks are flowing freely.

“Hey beautiful,” San said while sitting next to him. The siren’s head slowly turned it’s sight from the porthole to his lover, smiling shyly after being called beautiful. “Love you,”

“Love you too, San-ah.”


	12. we don't know what is next

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, I'm back after god knows how long. It's been a rough week for me, sometimes the inspiration just didn't come to my head :')
> 
> but anyways, here's another update, and thanks for all the kudos as well as comments!
> 
> stay safe guys, don't go anywhere unless it's urgent, also, Merry Christmas to all of you who's celebrating it! really wish you guys could have a nice holiday at home!

It has been nearly two years since their first attempt to search for the isles. With their new knowledge and Seonghwa siding with them, it was clear that now is the perfect time to find it. They are already in the east, so North is not really that far away—and a few more port stops in three months should get them there.

The men did not ask why Seonghwa and the others only told the truth now—they had felt the same pain of being betrayed by somebody you trust so… they didn’t say anything about it. They also had learnt basics of sign language, and now most of them could communicate directly to Yeosang without misunderstanding.

Hongjoong was asleep when he felt kisses yet again on his face. Seonghwa had kept this habit to wake the captain up without him wreaking havoc in the morning because his sleep was interrupted. The others said that Seonghwa had magical kisses, since he’s the only one that could wake Hongjoong up in such a light mood and leave the room unscathed.

“Morning captain, I’ve brought breakfast. I already ate mine, I’ll be in the waters if you need me, ‘kay?” Seonghwa pressed a chaste kiss again on Hongjoong’s temple, then left him alone in his— _or their_ —quarters. _Don’t get me wrong, Seonghwa had ‘captain’ as Hongjoong’s pet name, as Hongjoong had ‘starboy’ for Seonghwa._

“M’kay starboy,” The captain sat up, and began to eat his breakfast as he took the still-hot soup from his nightstand. These are actually the perks of having a witch on board, because it means warm breakfasts everyday.

The captain then went out his room to see some of the crewmates were already doing their duties, like Jongho and Yeosang with the barrels of oil that they brought back at the port, and Mingi with his turn on the weekly task of mopping the deck clean. Then he heard the dolphin-like laughs from below—must be Wooyoung—accompanied by Seonghwa’s therapeutic one. Yunho is still asleep—he had just retired from his weekly turn on the night shift.

San is washing the dishes when Hongjoong dumped his to the other’s place, then going up the deck to make sure everything’s in check.

“Hyung, which port’s our next stop?” Jongho asked.

“Killeon, let’s stay only a day, probably two days at most.” He said, then climbed up to the helm, ready to steer it for the day. Even though captains usually stays inside their quarters dong mostly drinking rum and sleeping, Hongjoong is not like that. He preferred to be useful, so that he could enjoy his youth full of life, adrenaline and joy.

Seonghwa had become a blessing in Hongjoong’s life. Hongjoong wanted to forget what life is like before the siren came, because this life that he’s living now is so colorful that even the rainbows cower themselves out of fear. What started as small brushes here and there now developed into passionate kisses and loving touches.

The captain looked down to the waters, seeing the black tail swishing around ever so gentle, then the lavender one that fidgets around like crazy.

“Wooyoung-ah, it’s getting hotter around here, you’ll get sunburned!” San shouted from the deck. Then an inaudible mumble followed, with constant steps heard climbing up the ladder. “There’s always tomorrow Youngie, it’s okay,” San pecked the siren’s cheeks multiple times until he’s sure the frowns turned into a cute smile.

Seonghwa still smelled like the seawater when he came over to Hongjoong. The siren then silently sat down, looking at the map, then marked some things.

“Hongjoong-ah, come here for a sec,”

“What is it?” He asked, still confused. The map was on a small table, pinned with small nails on four of it’s sides, then some sprawled in the middle.

“So you said our next stop is Killeon, right? According to both of our calculations for food and everything?”

“Yeah? What about it? Anything wrong with Killeon?”

“No, no. Nothing wrong with Killeon, but there’s something about the route we’re taking that can be a problem.”

“Spill the tea starboy, you know your captain is impatient.”

“You see, there’s the island around here, right?” Seonghwa circled an empty spot on the map with the tip of his pointer finger. “And there’s this myth— _that is probably true_ —that it’s going to be surrounded by a mist before sunrise. The island will be gone most of the time, because it was hidden by ancient magic that allowed it to sink and only appear three hours before sunrise. _When the twilight comes, sink inside the mist, and Utopia shall stand tall before you._ That’s what is says. The thing is, so many of my ancestors and yours have tried to get in there, and none had ever came back to tell what’s inside or behind the mist, so we’re sailing blind here.”

Hongjoong is yet again bewildered by all the new stuff that comes out of Seonghwa’s mouth. How much did the siren know about this voyage?

The others were also informed of the matter, and they took it in fast into their heads. Wooyoung seemed to keep something from them though, since Seonghwa saw him fidgeting around, walking in circles, and moving his feet subconciously.

“Wooyoung? You alright?” He asked the latter.

“Yeah hyung, I’m fine. _My leviathan is not, Violet isn’t fine—she wants to get out so badly because I’ve never let her out before,_ ” The last part was whispered into Seonghwa’s ear, and the older understood.

“Tell her it’s not time yet if you’re really not ready.” Seonghwa patted Wooyoung’s back, then walked to the front of the deck, basking in the soft breeze that touched his skin.

“This is bad,” He heard Mingi from the back. “What’s bad, Mingi?” “Somebody’s coming on our way, unknown ship and unknown crew, might be the navy.” He said still gripping his scope tightly.

“Let us get ready then.” Both quietly informed all the others, and Ateez steadily steered Sunrise out the other ship’s course so that they avoid conflict. But then they saw Wooyoung jumping off the deck, changing into his siren form, then changed again into something different.

A long, sepentine like body that’s three times their ship with a lavender-ish tint on it’s scale made an appearance from the deep blue. It had four giant-sized pectoral fins, paddling it’s way the same pace as the ship. The head was not that big—it’s half the size of Sunrise, and it had rows of sharp teeth ready to tear down everything on it’s path and a long, slim neck that’s two times as big as Ateezs biggest mast.

“That’s Violet for all of you.” Seonghwa said while smiling.

“Wait… you mean it’s Wooyoung?!” San asked, still looking at it with disbelief. Seonghwa gave a nod, to which all the others were very surprised at. So this is what Wooyoung looked like in his true form. _Violet_.

“STAY OUT OF SIGHT YOUNGIE!! WE DON’T WANT YOU HURT!!” San shouted from the deck.

“ _I have thick scales, human, a mere graze from wood and metal won’t bring me down._ ” A loud, female like voice rang in their heads, and made them even more shocked.

“Who the hell are you?” Yunho asked, because he couldn’t see.

“ _I am Violet, the leviathan that resided in this small and frail body._ ” Violet then dissapeared from sight by diving down, then the rest of Ateez took this as a signal to prepare for a fight.


	13. let's not think about it and live today.

Yeosang gave an estimation number of crews when the other ship nears, and it counted as 11. All of them had changed to their all-black outfit, so no one is recognisable in fight.

“There’s 13, Yeosang. The other two are hiding their magic. Trust me.” Seonghwa said after he saw the number written, and the others also believed it, just in case something goes wrong they could at least prepare for the two other people.

When the other ship nears, it was obvious that they are hunting for Ateez. From the way that they had pointed the orange-black sails to calling their name. Many pirates wanted them dead, after all—or at least many wanted to get rid of the sirens because the sirens are one of the main reasons why there were no survivors after an Ateez attack.

Mingi got ready on the crow’s nest, not that he’s a coward, but more like so he could hex all those people in one go, and watch over Ateez as they fight. He had some of the smoke bombs in his pocket, as well as his handgun and he already muttered spells for strenghtening their defenses. He is now a fully-fledged high-ranking witch, so not many could penetrate Ateez’s first and foremost palisade.

He fires a shot to the air, signaling Ateez to get ready, because he’s ready up there. Hongjoong had his sword gripped hard, Seonghwa and Yeosang had their throwing knives ready, meanwhile Yunho and San usually fights bare-handed, or with a dagger.

How does Yunho actually fight, you ask? Well, his nickname is the all-seeing demon, and he’s notorious to have an ‘eye’ on his back since nobody could really graze his backside. The sounds of the commotion made in the battles made the outlines seen even without him clicking, because the clicks serve as an echo, and all the fighting had made those, so he needs no clicking. And he could ‘see’ nearly all around, and as he constantly moves, his blindside is always covered by the others.

“Ahoy, Ateez!” The other captain greeted them—or probably decoy captain, but let us not stress over that, he’ll be dead anyway. “Yer crew could make a good corpse to hang in Heliosk! Do ye know how much yer heads are worth? Seventeen hundred gold coins per head-” The person was shut off by a headshot from Mingi, and the other ship’s crew instantaneously got outraged, resulting some cannons to be fired at them. The shots hit an invisible wall just a few feet away from the actual ship—so one tried to jump off and penetrate through.

He did, went through, and so were all the others in mere seconds. Mingi focused on sensing the two hidden person that Seonghwa had mentioned, meanwhile all the others are doing the killing. Both were the ones who fired the cannons, but one of them must’ve been another creature, as their signature magic felt a little different from the others. He noticed that two of them didn’t go out, possibly because one of them is a different creature and the other probably being the real captain.

“The all-seeing demon, never thought would fight ye,” one of them said to Yunho, and striked their sword to his chest. Of course, Yunho isn’t that dumb to just sit still and look pretty, he dodged it and landed a neck slice that blacked out the person. He continued to strangle the other one who just happened to nearly stab him in the back, then he felt Seonghwa eyeing that person too. Yunho made the person face Seonghwa, then felt a jerk—Seonghwa threw one of his knives to the person.

Yeosang fought silently, creeping his way to people’s backs then stabbing them one by one mercilessly, until there’s nobody left alive in his vicinity. San had headlocked one crew while kicking another who tried to stop him, successfully knocking both down with ease. His father was not only an inn owner, he used to be one of the elite soldiers before retiring to the suburbs and had children—he taught San all the secrets that only high ranking soldiers knew, so he used all of it here.

Hongjoong had jumped off to the other ship, searching for two other people that Seonghwa hand mentioned, so he searched under the deck, and found both instantly. One had an unnatural blonde hair with a blue streak on his bangs, meanwhile the other had a black one.

“Ateez,” The black haired stated.

“What about it?” Hongjoong asked. “Are you part of them?”

“N-no, I tried to s-set my f-friend free, but y-you guys came and I-I’m afraid that you’ll k-kidnap him.”

“Why would you think that?”

“’Cause your crew had sirens, and rumors said that you guys made them slaves-”

“That’s funny shit you got right there, kid.” Hongjoong spat. “There were never slavery on Sunrise, all of our crew joined voluntarily.”

Then, as if his lover could read his mind, Seonghwa came down to Hongjoong’s place, carefully still placing his bloodied knife in front of his chest.

“Oh, you’re a siren.” Seonghwa said, eyeing the blonde one. “Well, not really though, you’re a half-born like me.” Then the black haired boy was shook hearing Seonghwa’s remark, nobody had ever guessed his friend’s identity this accurate—because half-born is a term for a siren and a mer’s child.

“I know your voice,” The blonde one said. “Your highness.” He kneeled in front of Seonghwa, and immediately, the prince found himself kneeling in front of the other too. Hongjoong and the other human froze, not knowing what to do hearing that.

“Who are you?” Seonghwa asked, because so many knew his voice when he talked, so there’s possible threat here. “Na Jaemin, your highness. I used to be a servant of princess Seungwan before I ran away because of the war.”

“Ah… He’s no threat cap, and the human too. Let’s give them another chance to be free.” Seonghwa said, because he remembered now, Jaemin was the one who he used to talk with along with some other people.

The captain nodded. “But we’ll drop you off in the nearest port, because our rations are simply not enough for feeding ten people by the time we reach Killeon, and I have included this ship’s estimated ration too.” The other two nodded, then walked behind both of them.

The others were surprised when two of them were brought to Sunrise. The deck had been cleaned, the dead bodies gotten rid off, and Yeosang was already mopping them clean again with Mingi’s help. Wooyoung still stayed underwater, preparing himself to sink and destroy the ship. Yunho and San raided the other ship it was clear that this mission looked more like a suicide mission—because the rations were too little for an eleven crew ship.

As Yunho jumped off the other ship, Violet jumped up, muzzle piercing the ship, breaking them into two. The two new others—Jeno and Jaemin, were flabbergasted seeing a creature so big that it’s head could slice a ship into half so easily. Then she turned into Wooyoung mid-air, landing smoothly on Sunrise’s deck.

“Hello there,” Wooyoung rose up from the ground, standing gracefully on his feet with no problem.

All of them were utterly speechless. They never thought that a person as loud and as energetic as Wooyoung would be able to do that.

_This moment will mark as the real start of their journey finding their treasure._


	14. don't tell me that's not true no more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there’s going to be a mock trial, but it wouldn’t be accurate as I am still a fifteen year old with no experience with law enforcement.

“Utopian isles?! You guys must be crazy!” Jeno said before they departed, because he’d been seeing these maps with weird markers that led into open sea—as if they were looking for something hidden, and they were.

“Jeno-” Jaemin tried to calm the boy down, but got yanked off.

“I lost my father— _he searched for those isles too all his life_ —I warned you here. I hope that you don’t share the same fate as him, but please rethink your decision, alright?”

“What you say doesn’t change our resolution of finding those isles. The world is in danger—because once the isles are in the wrong hands, they could cause a volatile war.” Seonghwa said, ending their conversation with a determined face.

Jeno continued to glance doubtfully at all of them even after their departure. They promised not to say anything about Ateez, and Jaemin also promised to stay out of human affairs, and not to believe all the rumors that talked bullshit about Ateez.

All of them had restocked again to make sure they are ready for the three-week voyage to Killeon, and then to the unknown—which Seonghwa estimated to be another three weeks. They were mentally prepared for everything, even for all the stares they receive once they had came out of Sunrise at daylight with their usual all-black outfit.

When San was out in the town with Wooyoung, he actually saw some people dressing like them—all black with some chains and fedora hat, but their faces weren’t covered, not like Ateez, and claiming that they are them.

They were saying all those shenanigans—and even threatening the people in the market to fear over them—to which the real Ateez are disgusted at the try-hard act.

They didn’t even notice San and Wooyoung— _two of the real deals_ —were standing behind them with eagle eyes. Both San and Wooyoung, were challenged in a duel in the middle of the market, and who are they to say no if this is to save their reputation?

They were fighting three against two, but San was sure he could handle it, and so was Wooyoung. The siren had let his small knives out, handing one to San, then started to attack in sync. People could see as the five fight, two of the ones that used the masks had a different fighting style—very dependent on each other, as if they had the same mind, and the other three attacked haphazardly without planning.

“Vi!” San shouted, and sent a man flying to Wooyoung’s direction, to which the siren stabbed his stomach. Then both handled the other two easily, since the first to get injured seemed to be like their leader or something.

“Scram.” That was what Wooyoung said when people crowded near them to take a glimpse of what they actually looked like. No one really caught their faces as they blended perfectly in the mass, leaving eyes searching to no avail.

When they told the rest what had happened, Ateez had realized how popular they were with their mysteriousness and all the instant feeling of dread they sense in people as they dock into a certain port, because people knew that someone is going to die the next day. They couldn’t blame anyone though, since their identity is important to keep the secret, well, still a secret. If somebody recognised Seonghwa, it’d be worse.

“Are we done for the night?” Yunho asked, still sitting down after helping around a lot on the deck.

“Yeah, we’re done pup. We’ll entrust the steering to you, Jjong, good night!” Mingi said, then hauled Yunho’s body up, taking him in their shared room to rest.

“How’s the transcribing going on?” The selkie asked.

“Still zero progress like before.”

“Try reading them backwards or flip the manuscript.” Yunho suggested.

Mingi did what his lover asked, then was intrigued when something more came out. He did the flipping part already before, with still-zero progress, but when reading them backwards, he instantly got the idea of every verse.

“It’s about seeing, speaking and hearing something.” He muttered, mind perplexed at the meaning and the complicated words written in a piece of paper.

“Ah… I think you should ask Hwa-hyung for this one,” Yunho said.

“Okay.”

The sound of boots padding it’s way to their quarters were heard by Seonghwa, so he expected one of the crews to knock at their door.

“Seonghwa-hyung, you free?” Mingi asked from outside.

“Come in Mingi,” He answered while still finishing off the last of his organizing—it could wait.

The taller came in bringing the all-too-familiar manuscript, the one he always had inside his pocket no matter the time and day, and the one he protected with all costs second to Yunho. He showed them— _finally_ —to Seonghwa, and as the older saw it, the manuscript looked very familiar to him.

“I know the full verses, do you want me to read it to yo-”

“I thought you’d never ask hyung!” Mingi looked excited, being jumpy all of a sudden—and waking Hongjoong up from his beauty sleep.

“Who the fuck-” Half-asleep Hongjoong saw both of them, and grumbled to the pillow muttering ‘ _I was tryin’ to sleep over here and you guys just-_ ’

“Let’s do this outside then. Don’t wanna see cap grow horns and kill us here,” Seonghwa said while shoving Mingi to the door, and got out.

_“See the golds and jewels, you shall not._

_See no beauty, you will._

_See no more, than just your heart._

_See no evil, and the answer will show._

_Speak filth, you shall not._

_Speak of silence, you will._

_Speak purely, of what your heart says._

_Speak no evil, and you shall be answered._

_Hear the whispers of empty promises, you shall not._

_Hear not what the mouth says._

_Hear no more, than that of other’s hearts._

_Hear no evil, and you will hear your answer.”_

Mingi looked even more puzzled by the real meaning, because it all didn’t really make sense unless… you put Seonghwa, Yunho and Yeosang there.

“Any questions Mingi? Or should I write it in a piece of paper so you could read it over again in your room?”

“Sure, thanks so much hyung.”

It was on their fifth day sailing that they decided to try a round of mock trial. After seires of rock paper and scissors, Mingi had became the judge, Seonghwa had become the mock defendant, San and Wooyoung as the jurors, and Hongjoong as the defense attorney. The rest of them, Yunho, Jongho and Yeosang were the witnesses.

“What’s going to be the crime though?” Seonghwa asked.

“Kissing the captain every morning to wake him up!” Wooyoung suggested, to which all of them agreed instantly. “Don’t take everything seriously, alright? This is only a mock trial, no need for choking like last time.” That had happened before Seonghwa, but as the others reminisce it, they bursted into a fit of laughter.

“Let’s go!,” Hongjoong clapped.

“Let us start by hearing of what happened here,” Mingi started, leaning on the upper deck’s railing with a _hammer_ by his side. “The defendant was accused of kissing his own captain every morning to wake him up, correct?” All the others nodded, then Mingi continued. “defendant may enter his plea, guilty or not guilty?”

“Not guilty.” Seonghwa said. Both San and Wooyoung pretended to be outraged, along with Yunho, Jongho and Yeosang.

“I’ll give the witnesses a chance to say something,” Mingi silenced them all.

Yunho had thought and consulted to Jongho and Yeosang that he’d make a sarcasm out of their ‘weaknesses’, so they were clear of any misunderstandings.

“I saw it just today!” Yunho said, even though everyone and himself is really aware of the fact that he’s blind. The crowd had turned into a laughing mess again— _even though they hesitated at first_ , and even Mingi went down for a moment to hug Yunho—because he made the mock trial even funnier than before.

“Okay, okay, the other witnesses, have anything to say?”

“Yeosang said he was talking to Yunho when they both saw Seonghwa kissing the captain to wake him the other day!”

“And who are you? Can Yeosang not talk by himself?” There were no poison in Mingi’s words, and even Yeosang giggled at the remark. The siren only shook his head, and Mingi flashed a smile at him.

“Jurors, I’ll give you time to rethink your decision and reflect, while I have the defense attorney defend the convicted.”

Hongjoong then stepped beside Seonghwa. “Ahem,” His crewmates snorted, breaking his concentration and made him giggle a bit too. “Is kissing even harming the victim?” He asked, back to his defense attorney persona. “ I asked you all a question, is kissing harming the victim?” Hongjoong repeated once more. “If it is not harming then why is he convicted?” He asked the ‘witnesses’.

“It’s a taboo!” Jongho, this time shouted.

“I did not see why it’s a taboo-” Hongjoong spontaneously brought out his book that he had on his hand, and pretended to search for something. “-according to this book of law, it stated nothing is wrong with love, and you should not interfere an action of love.” The others had yet again laughed, because their usually stony-faced and stoic captain had loosen up a bit this time.

“What the fuck?” Mingi was clutching his belly whilst he cracks up into a fit of giggles. “Where the fuck did you even—that’s your notes-”

“What kind of judge laughs and says inappropriate words while having a trial conducted, huh?” Yunho attacked his own lover, making all of them chortle even more.

“Let’s call it a day then guys, we had fun, but there are things to do.” Hongjoong dismissed them all, but San and Wooyoung stopped him.

“The defendant is guilty alright!” San joked. “Let’s execute him with madame guillotine!” Wooyoung ran up, took Mingi’s hammer, and playfully smacks it on the railing three times, ending their mock trial officially.


	15. we can reach that utopia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohoo! finally 2020 is ending! 2021 is another new year, new resolution and new normal I suppose.
> 
> Happy new years too y'all!

It was day fourteen of the sail. Everyone had been busy planning everything, checking and preparing, and today was like the peak of their exhaustion because it had rained and one of them had to steer the helm under it— _well Jongho had to_.

He was fixing his hat when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and it made him look to who that is. It was Yeosang, of course. Nobody in the right mind would walk out in the rain—it’s cold and full of uncertainty.

“What are you doing here hyung?” Jongho asked him, but was simply answered with a kiss on the cheek.

‘ _I only wish to accompany you, that‘s all._ ’ He signed. 

“You can go sleep if you want, I don’t mind.” Jongho replied. Yeosang shook his head, then stood in the rain with Jongho for another hour, until all the downpour stopped.

“I’ll go change shifts with Mingi-hyung, then we can sleep.” Jongho said, linking his arm with Yeosang’s. Their clothes were dripping wet, but they didn’t care. Jongho went over to Mingi’s room, and his lover just patiently stood by him, tailing him cutely and silently.

When they changed clothes, Jongho noticed that Yeosang had a bandage on his torso, and there’s blood smeared on the white colored cloth—which ringed his alarm.

“Sangie, what happened to you?” He asked, scanning over the slim body of the siren, his hand brushing the bandaged skin.

‘ _Some gangster tried to rob me, but I knocked them all down._ ’

“Who knew about this?”

‘ _Only Seonghwa-hyung. I don’t wanna worry you._ ’

Jongho sighed loudly, he didn’t understand why Yeosang had to be secretive to him—the man knew privacy but, not like this.

“Can I… see?” Jongho asked. He knew that sirens have lower regeneration rate above water, so it would be a deep cut to last this long. The gash was on Yeosang’s milky chest had already healed but there’s still a shallow, bloodied wound that marred his skin into a line of red. Jongho disposed the old bandage, then took a clean cloth to make sure the blood stops from going out the wound, not wanting to strain Yeosang’s body more than it’s capability.

“Tell me if there’s anything wrong, alright?” Jongho then kissed his lover’s temple, trailing it down to his lips and the wound itself. That’s the tradition they brought from childhood until now— _let’s kiss each other’s wounds so it won’t hurt as much._

“Hey starboy,” Hongjoong had just woken up from his nap, and he was greeted with such a beautiful sight—Seonghwa smiling softly after kissing him like he usually does habitually to wake the captain up. He’d always smell the soft warm salted caramel from the siren, always reminded him of home and how it could be contained in such a beautiful person.

They haven’t got the time to even just greet each other properly, since their schedules had never once align these days. The bed had always felt cold, it was so empty when the other isn’t there. Whether it’s Seonghwa holed up in Mingi’s room transcribing the texts with the latter, or Hongjoong steering late at night— _because nowadays he can’t even sleep without Seonghwa, so he resorted to steering whenever his Starboy isn’t there._ They had built this dependency for the presence of each other, to the point where it just tires them if they don’t at least talk for an hour.

“I’ve told the boys that we’re really tired, and they already took over. Let’s just rest today,” Seonghwa said, but Hongjoong sat up, scratched his hair, then pulling his lover’s hand slowly to kiss him. The siren is surely swoon by this action, but then the kiss got into something hotter— _something more like lust._ Their tongues danced together, and Seonghwa’s hand now found it’s way to Hongjoong’s collar, gripping so strongly like it’s the end of the world.

“ _I’m starting to doubt that Utopia is a place, Starboy,_ ” Hongjoong whispered it beside the siren’s ear. “ _Because you’re my Utopia, my home, my everything,_ ” Seonghwa’s breath hitched, his shallow breaths ghosted over the captain’s shoulder blade ad his nose hovers above it.

“Do you… want to do it?” Seonghwa replied him after what looked like a few moments—and Hongjoong surely got the idea of ‘it’. The captain shook his head, he is not really that ready to take their relationship to the next level, because this is comfortable enough, and they had more important things to do than just staying inside their room making love. “I’m okay Hwa,”

“Alright.” Seonghwa flashed a warm smile— _that signature smile of his_ , and Hongjoong had fucking missed that for the past few days—finally seeing it again after after what seemed like thousands of years on the helm.

“How have you been doing these past days, captain? Sorry I haven’t been able to make time for us-” The siren was cut off by a kiss, successfully silencing him in just a second. “It’s okay starboy, as long as it’s important for Mingi and all of us, alright? I’ve been doing fine— _but_ _our bed felt cold without you there, I can’t close my eyes because the emptiness tasted like my worst nightmares, Hwa._ ” Hongjoong said while holding his lover’s hands tightly, never wanting them to part nor let go. “Oh Joong, you should’ve told me,”

San was soundly sleeping when he felt two smaller arms wrapped his chest snugly, and a face plastered on his back. The arms were colder than his, but that is totally normal if the ones hugging him are Wooyoung’s. The man changed his position so he could face his cuddler, and it was him, his one and only boyfriend.

“ ’s very cold,” Wooyoung’s hair was half wet, indicaing that he had walked in the rain to get something.

“Why’d you walk under the rain then? Hmm?” San asked while caressing the wet locks with his hands.

“Wan’ get my novel from Joong hyung’s room. Then it rained.”

“Why was it in Joong-hyung’s room?”

“Dunno, but it’s there anyway.”

San chuckled, and kissed the crown of Wooyoung’s head. His hands delicately untied the magic necklace that hid Wooyoung’s real look, so the second it’s undone, the mop of black hair turned into a lavender one. It was much softer, silkier and fluffier, to the point where San just wanted to bury his nose in it all day.

They continued to hug each other like this, feeling safe and unbothered by the rest of the world in their little one inside the four walls.


	16. keep going, make a fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The artists I mention here are not bad nor I intend to frame them under bad light, please support them and their actions are not related to their roles here in the story. This also has injury, mentions of non-con rape, and manslaughter.

Finally, it’s their last day on sea and first day at land. Killeon, the grim city ruled by port mafias. Jongho, Yeosang, Wooyoung and San were the ones tasked with shopping, meanwhile the rest had followed Hongjoong to take whatever bounty Maddox had.

The four met Maddox in a small inn—the older man was standing in front of it reading books as he waited for them. The older also had a magic raven— _porovided by Mingi_ , the ones who could easily find Ateez’s ship without getting lost in the other hemisphere.

“I’ve got good news, my lads, come in.”

The customers were visibly afraid when they saw Ateez. A group of very intimidating people, not to mention three of them were very tall, and Yunho’s pearly blind eyes reflected the light, making him even more like a demon. Their room was big enough and soundproof enough to make this a secret temporary meeting point, and it sure is cleaner here than any other inns they had ever been.

“What is the good news, Maddox?” Hongjoong asked.

“There’s this… port mafia asking you to do a favor. Stray Kids, straight from their leader Bang Chan himself. He wanted you to give them the head of Kim Woojin, their defector in three day’s time.”

“Oh. You sure it’s the person? Bang Chan?”

“Yes, Phobos, I am sure.” Not even Maddox knew their names— _they had successfully set their identities incognito_.

“Where do they want to meet us?”

“Here, in the basement, now.”

“Now?”

Whew, Stray Kids sure are impatient. Hongjoong decided to just oblige, he had brought their best defenses after all, enter Mingi, Seonghwa and Yunho. Hongjoong himself is also a notable fighter, so there should be zero to no problem for them.

Boots padded the stairs to the basement of the inn, and they were greeted by people who are if not shorter, as tall as Hongjoong. The tallest is only a little taller than Seonghwa, Yunho and Mingi looked out of place between all of them.

“G’day fellas,” The person with eye smiles smirked at them. “I’m Bang Chan,”

“Good day too, sir. May we keep our names to ourselves? We work anonymously for our clients, and I’m sure you all are aware of that matter.” Mingi came forward as the decoy captain as usual.

“Yes, I am aware.” Bang Chan then stood up. “Sit down fellas, Minho! Jisung! Bring them drinks!”

The dark basement—or more like cellar, was damp and had a minimum lighting, so Ateez’s faces are fully concealed under the hat and masks that they wore, still sticking adamantly to their anonymous personas.

Ateez knew too well that this is a trick to catch a glimpse of their faces when they drink, so all of them did not drink— _it maybe is impolite but their identities are far more important than some man-made rules._

Their drinks were still served, but four of them stayed silent through the briefing. Bang Chan had thought that they were weird, one of a kind pirates, because their language is surprisingly very understandable, they looked clean, and they don’t reek of alcohol.

“I want Woojin dead in three day’s time, because he’s been planning to sabotage our chain of supplies to the black market. And you know, some of our secret assets are leaked, so… that concludes why I want his head.”

“How much can you pay?” Mingi asked.

“I heard you are team of seven or eight people, so I’ll pay five hundred golds per head.”

“We are a team of eight, and I’ll make sure they do their job on time.” Now Hongjoong was the one talking, and this is out of the ordinary, since usually Mingi’s doing all the talking. “And what do you offer aside from the golds? They’re easy to get, but if you offer us more, we’ll gladly bring him alive for you guys to torture here.” He added.

“Alive? Are you serious?”

“Have you heard of General Dongyoung from Heliosk?” He simply asked.

“Don’t tell me… you people are insane,”

“So? A deal is a deal, Boss.” Bang Chan had heard the rumors that if you have a deal with Ateez, it’s gonna fell like you just had the deal with the devil himself, just from how unhinged they are and the way that they talk about death so easily.

“Fine. We’ll make sure everyone keeps their mouth shut about you guys, and erase your traces after the action.”

“Do we have a deal?”

“We do, Ateez.”

Mingi then asked for something very… bizzare. He asked if Woojin had any personal things left here before leaving, and Hyunjin actually gave him a small pocket compass that he managed to find during the cleanup. He gave it to Mingi, trusting the mercenary to do anything wicked to Woojin before bringing him here. That serves as a guarantee—so if Ateez had caught Woojin, it would be back at Hyunjin’s hand by tomorrow morning.

They were informed that Woojin was last seen in the outskirts of the city—in a somewhat hidden-in-plain-sight house—planning to sabotage Stray Kids from inside. Changbin and Seungmin will lead them to it next morning four AM sharp, so Woojin will never see daylights again.

They were back at the inn as Hongjoong asked all of them to group inside his and Seonghwa’s room.

“Okay, now that everyone’s here, I’ll need to assign the jobs for all of you.” Hongjoong started. All of them sat in silence, a cue for Hongjoong to continue. “Yunho, that place will be dark, so you’ll be in front with Yeosang. Wooyoung and San comes next after Yunho and Yeosang ambushes, you guys clear the way. Mingi will make sure no one leaves the premises, Seonghwa, Jongho and I will be the one fighting Woojin—assuming that he had more people inside. Is everything clear?”

“Yes cap.” They all answered in unison. Mingi had made sure no one will hear anything outside the room, so their discussion is only shared between them.

By the time they woke up in the morning, all of them were already on their uniforms, so nobody is late nor recognisable. Changbin and Seungmin— _they introduced themselves yesterday_ —had waited for them already in front of a carriage. They didn’t bother to have breakfast, they could ask Maddox to buy them some and put it in their room while they hunt for the prey of the day, securing even more golds in their pockets.

It took about twenty five minutes to reach that place, and immediately, Mingi briefed Hongjoong, Seonghwa and Jongho about Woojin’s whereabouts. He was in the second floor, still sleeping soundly, meanwhile there are a ton of people inside with daggers and guns. There were also golds inside and explosives, so Mingi told Yunho to be aware of them and be careful of it.

Changbin and Seungmin were up on a tree, overseeing Ateez’s work, when they realized that Yunho clicks. The tall guy is the all-seeing demon. They were lucky to watch him strike through people and the only thing that made him seen were the glint of light against his dagger. They also shifted to Yeosang, who had perfected his skills on ambushing unsuspecting people, knocking them down while Yunho becomes the decoy.

Then there came San and Wooyoung from the sides, the sound of flying knives pierced through the air as Wooyoung threw his and San catched them to stab another man. Ateez didn’t lie when they said Violet and Sierra were their fastest couple, they fight as if they teleport themselves with the knives. Stabs after stas were delivered, and San blew a kick that was so strong it probably made the person die right then and there.

Whilst the other are still distracting the guards, Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Jongho ran to the door. The strongest and the youngest of them all kicked the locked door open, splitting them into pieces as his foot struck the wooden material.

It was kind of bright inside, the candelabrum are lit, and some candles are too in the table. But the disturbing things that the three had found were women, four of them, and each one tied to a chair with a gag on. They were frightened when Ateez went close to them, but Seonghwa gently opened the gag to let one of them speak.

“Where’s Woojin?” He whispered.

“O-on the s-second floor—the red door on the left,”

“Thank you.”

“Violet! Sierra! Make sure to untie these women here!” The prince shouted, then left them to take Woojin with them. He heard a yes shouted from Wooyoung, so he’s sure that those women were taken care of. Some of the men had resisted and fight, while the others ran out the building—just to be knocked down by the rest of Ateez.

She didn’t lie on Woojin’s whereabouts. Slowly but steadily, Jongho picked the lock to the door, making sure that nobody is going to get hurt if he opens it. It was surprisingly easy to get in, but Jongho’s head was held at gunpoint as soon as they open the door.

“Oh you don’t wanna mess with us,” Seonghwa said.

“Who are you-” He was cut off by a knife that nearly grazed his throat.

“We are Ateez.” Hongjoong whispered from behind. He actually took the back door and climbed the roof to Woojin’s small balcony before creeping his way to the man.

“No— _who hired you_?!”

“Hmm? A good friend of yours,” Hongjoong deepened the press of the knife, making Woojin surrender his gun with a clang on the floor. “Bang Chan promised us forty thousand gold coins for your head.”

Woojin struggled to free himself, but Seonghwa quickly gagged him then tied his hand, and with that, he’s done for. The sun had just risen, and the heavily injured bodies are hauled inside of the house as the four women were inside the carriage waiting to thank them.

“Can you make sure those women are safe after this?” Seonghwa whispered to Seungmin.

“Yes. One of them happened to be the twin sister of Hyunjin, so we’ll definitely keep them safe.”

“Glad to hear that.”

Woojin was thrown and forced to lay down in the whole way—which was amusing for all of them to say the least. Ateez had tried to liven up the mood—because they saw the women looked pretty grim after what had happened.

Jongho then told the women of the mock trials they held on deck a week ago. Mingi had put a spell, so all of them— _excluding Ateez_ —would forget what they were like—only to remember that the story was funny, but no recollection of what really happened.

Four of them laughed heartily, because they needed something light in order to temporarily forget the traumas Woojin had caused them. They were hesitant when Yunho sarcastically joked about his and Yeosang’s weakness, but when they saw the whole crew laughing, they laughed too—even Changbin and Seungmin.


	17. shouting out that the end means the beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarification: I will address Wooyoung as a he, but when he’s violet, I’ll address them as she. This chappy is also dialouge heavy TvT.

Bang Chan looked terrified of what Ateez had done. They had Woojin, still breathing, in front of them. He nearly choked his beer, and Felix beside him, had already cowered in fear.

“Do what you like to this man. From this point on, we are not involved, and we do not want to be involved. Any objections?” Hongjoong asked while shoving Woojin right into Bang Chan’s face.

“No,” Stray Kids’ leader now looked at them impressed— _looking at them as if they’re his seniors_. “Your payment is with Hyunjin. He might have something extra for you since you found his sister too.”

They then went out the room inside the cellar to be met by the long-haired man, holding a big bag of cash and something resembling of an amulet, custom-made with Ateez written on it— _eight of them_ —and gave it to the team of pirates.

“The amulets are my gift for you all, since you didn’t harm Yeji but saved her. Think of it as my way to say thanks. And… I’m a witch too, a Nightwalker, but I haven’t finished my studies yet. I noticed the tall one had a Nightwalker amulet as well, good to see a friend here.”

“Oh, I see. I hope we could meet again.” Hongjoong answered simply, then took it all from Hyunjin’s hands.

All of them had bid their goodbyes to the city when the sun reached it’s peak at twelve, and Sunrise is sailing the seas yet again.

This time, into the unknown.

Seonghwa had warned them about mermaids singing, so they already put soft wax in their ears just in case, and communicate with sign language. Ateez, as mentioned before, had learnt about sign language from Jongho and Yeosang—and it made communicating with the mute siren instantly easier. Except for Yunho though, since he couldn’t see—but Seonghwa can resist a mermaid’s song, so he’ll be the one translating to Yunho as to what’s happening. Mingi made a very complicated magic charm to protect his pup, it took him solid two days just to perfect it and test it with Seonghwa.

Sunrise was doing alright, Jongho did his patch-ups with the materials that they bought from Killeon. Mingi was concentrating fully on finding the exact place and planning the strategy once they came to the island, preparing for everything that could possible happen, given that the island’s magic is strong.

Violet was roaming free on the seas when she spotted some specks of color that seemed to be radiating off scales. _Mermaids_ —they were never a good sign.

“ _Seonghwa, mermaids. I hope you could somehow negotiate with them._ ” Violet said, addressing it directly to the prince. He jumped down following her command, and as soon as the body hits the waters, he was surrounded by silver tails of mermaids. The others looked down as well, and gaped since is their first time seeing a proper mermaid. Wooyoung had changed quickly, and hid behind the boat as the mermaids approach Seonghwa.

Seonghwa changed too, his gills were both on his neck as well as his hips, and his teeth became shark-like—it looked white and razor-sharp.

“ _What are you doing here? Who sent you?_ ”

“ _The one with the third eye, with his leviathan, interesting. We are dilligently following the command of our empress, that is all. We are from Silverwave, as you could see from our tails,_ ”

“ _What do you want of me, then?_ ”

“ _Nothing more than just to follow your voyage to Utopia._ ”

“ _Fine. If you promise not to lead **my** crew in danger. And we will not lead yours into that in exchange. Do we have a deal?_”

“ _Yes we do, your highness._ ” The mermaids were true to their words, so Seonghwa was a bit relieved.

Seonghwa did not let his guard down so easily though, because he knew what the mermaids are capable of doing, and opening the wax in his crew’s ears right away might lead into an unknown danger. So he signed to them that he did negotiate, but told them not to open their wax until he says so.

The crew completely understood, then continued their course to the uncharted isles as they got new company from the mermaids.

Hongjoong had finally got some good rest from a long day. The mermaids were very cooperative, yes, but he was sick if not hearing what Seonghwa says these days. Speaking of the person… well, he’s fast asleep being Hongjoong’s small spoon right now. It was dead quiet, the moon’s high, and nobody in the right mind would be awake right now, except for Hongjoong.

He wanted to wake Seonghwa up, he wanted just to _talk_ , you know— _like… ‘how are you doing these days?’_ or just a simple remark as _‘I love you’._ He wanted it. _Only that_. He was sick of not understanding what Seonghwa had intended to say in their daily talks, so much so that they had started to just ignore each other and sleep already. Hongjoong doesn’t need a lot of metaphors to describe this feeling—it is just painfully empty. Like a night sky without stars—because his star is vanished to thin air from his life.

“I missed you Starboy,” It is indeed funny how such a simple act that he could always do was now a very dangerous thing to do—and such a tradition could affect his life and mental state so harshly.

He felt a twitch on his chest, then Seonghwa breaths faster as his grip tightens on Hongjoong’s waist. Before he knew it, Seonghwa— _with his three eyes, mind you_ —were staring at him with stars in it.

“Hmm?”

Hongjoong gently pinched the soft wax, ignoring Seonghwa’s hand that pushed it back, until it all came out.

“I said I missed you.” He finally heard what he said from his right ear, not only some hums from his vocal cords and lips moving inaccurately. “I missed talking to you. Hearing your voice. I missed when you say ‘ _wake up captain_ ’ every morning—because I couldn’t hear any of it.”

“I know. I missed it too. I missed the moment where you just smile hearing my voice the first time in the morning, Captain.” Seonghwa’s voice, as always, sounded so soft in his ears, melodically correct and it was as if soft cotton crawled through his ears— _like silk to skin_.

“H-how are you doing these days?” Hongjoong was the one who asked first, because he knew Seonghwa couldn’t read his mind— _he learnt it the hard way_.

“I’m… I don’t know honestly. It felt like… as if you were missing in my life, Joong,” The young prince admitted, then tightened his hold to his captain, and the gesture made the captain’s heart fracture. “How was…yours?”

“I’m great, aside from getting frustrated that I can’t talk nor hear you—I’m starting to get jealous of the mermaids now, they could hear you, they could talk to you—I feel like I was a ghost or something,” The pair laughed at the bitter truth now, but they also felt fuller—they somehow got some closure to this problem. “But it’s okay. Now I feel like I could survive another week after hearing your voice.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Love you Starboy,”

“Love you too, my captain.”


	18. everyday's a finale show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mingi’s condition in this chapter and the following chapters are not the accurate depictions of anxiety, sleep paralysis, and panic attacks. I hope you are aware of this.

Things had been quite rough for the other couples as well. When Seonghwa finally said they could open their waxes, the ship nearly toppled off as they ran excitedly around it while opening the wax.

Mingi and Wooyoung were the loudest ones, shouting here and there because finally, they could speak again to each other without worrying. Jongho and Yeosang were the most sane out of all of them— _they were too used living in silence_. The mermaids were very awkward when hearing them, one of them even told Seonghwa that his crew sounded like a group of hungry seagulls.

Wooyoung and San had randomly chatted—both looking ever so animatedly, so immersed in their conversation inside the crow’s nest that everybody knew what they were talking about, even the mermaids heard it—no matter how both tried to keep quiet.

“Would you come down for dinner, lovebirds?” Seonghwa asked, because their conversation seemed endless, it seemed like neither San nor Wooyoung had ran out of topic to talk about.

“Yeah! We’re coming!”

As they got closer to the islands, the waves began to go wilder, the weather became more irregular, and the days began to feel a lot longer, especially for Mingi. He’d been fighting against sleep these days, because the amount of magic wafting in the air is just so overwhelming for him to sense, not to mention the amount of pressure he felt because he’s the only witch on board, which made things super duper bad. Nothing seemed to work for him to wake his body up, his sleep schedule seemed to be jumbled between day and night—even Seonghwa couldn’t help him.

He finally got caught in the breaking point where he just literally slept on the floor without realising, then woke up fifteen hours later inside his room with Yunho shaking his body frantically.

“Mingi! Please darling, wake up!” He heard that voice, but it seemed very far away, yet Yunho’s presence felt so near.

He could feel everything happening near him, still, he could not pry his eyes to open. No matter how hard he tried. He wanted to reply to his pup, but his lips failed him— _nothing came out, not even any sound_.

“He still sleeping?” There came another voice. One that’s as deep as Yunho’s but more velvety. _It’s Seonghwa_.

“Yeah. Not responding.” Yunho replied, even though Mingi had struggled to even just twitch his lips—and failed yet again. He needed to tell Yunho—he needed to tell his lover that he’s fine-

_But nothing._

The last time Mingi was like this was… years ago if Yunho remembered perfectly. He was stressed learning and remembering and demonstrating his magic skills for his final test as a witch-in-training—not to mention that the one scoring him is his own father, which made things even worse. Mingi had a quite bitter past, which resulted in him easily having panic attacks, sleep paralysis and anxiety attacks at random times— _that is why he always stayed back in the fights. That was the real reason._ He ended up sleeping for twelve hours after he was done with the last test that day.

“This is bad. His body still can’t adjust to all the energy here— _but something is wrong. Am I missing something?_ ” Seonghwa asked himself, but he couldn’t sense what it is, because the mermaids didn’t do anything as he watched over them intensely, and the others sure seemed to be not affected at all.

After another two hours, Mingi could finally move his arms. It was… hard at first, as if something pressured him to just stay down, just to stay in his place and never wake up. He felt Yunho sleeping beside him, curling like he usually does back in their younger days. He started to move his lips, warming his facial muscles after not using it for nearly eighteen hours. His voice was hoarse at first, and then he noticed a glass of water on the nightstand, he chugged it all down in one go, and felt… a little better than before.

“Pup?” He asked, tapping his selkie lover’s shoulder. He seemed to get a stir, and he heard a lazy click coming out of Yunho’s mouth. As soon as he knew that Mingi’s awake, he shot his body up into a sitting position, still trying to process if this is real or is it just his mind messing with him.

“Darling?”

“Hey pup.”

“Oh my-holy shit Mingi! You’ve been asleep for god knows how long!” Yunho hugged the other sitting body, still not believing that his lover had finally woken up from his slumber.

“I know pup, I know. Something just tried to keep me down, but you are my motivation to wake up again,”

“Aww, sweet. But what happened though? You seemed okay the other day, still being loud— _being you_. Then all of a sudden you just slept on the floor like that,”

“I don’t really know pup, well, don’t really know yet. I’ve been fighting my sleep these days, I barely could keep my eyes open during the day but I can’t close them at night. My body and mind must’ve stressed too much.”

“Oh right... remember the finals? You were like that too,”

“How could I forget? I slept for twelve hours that day, after dad stared at me for three hours straight. Sorry I get panicked and stressed too easily.”

“Silly darling. I’m not blaming you when you sometimes get them easily, but next time, please talk to me, alright? Everyone’s worried about you.”

“Yeah pup. I’ll make sure to remember that.”

The others were calmly approaching Mingi when Yunho informed them that he had awoken. Nobody wanted to pressure him again after knowing the reason why he abruptly slept like a log.

“ _I never knew that the prince would be this handsome,_ ”

“ _Me too Jisoo, he’s just so dreamy!_ ”

_“Man, if only we’re sirens…the crew are lucky to be treated in such love and care, but maybe he’s taken already! If he is, then it’s a shame. Even the men up_ _there on the surface l_ _ooked nothing as angelic and ethereal as him,_ _”_

_“Yeah, the men were never my type, especially that one infamous heartbraker pirate Choi Yeonjun. I wonder if the crew knows them,”_

Seonghwa happened to hear that conversation, and didn’t want to interrupt the mermaid’s gossiping session. It was clear that his face looked abnormally beautiful, but he was never called that before Hongjoong, so he’s not really used to being admired by people, let alone strangers. He only sighed at the mention of Yeonjun, because if Wooyoung could understand and speak their language, he’d be hooked down there all day talking bad about Yeonjun.

“ _What do you want to hear about Yeonjun?_ ” Seonghwa asked them, because he knew he and Wooyoung are already free for the day.

“ _What do you know about him? If it’s possible, then everything!_ ”

Seonghwa then called Wooyoung, and since the siren had got nothing to do, they went down to chat a little with the mermaids.

“Hi,” Wooyoung meekly said, he’s a bit shy in front of newcomers. The mermaids smiled at him, which is great to start a conversation.

“ _So he here, is one of the man’s ex-lovers, the Choi Yeonjun you all are talking about._ ” Wooyoung didn’t ask Seonghwa what it had meant, because he could understand the context, but he can’t really reply back in mer’s language.

Seonghwa then began telling the start of their relationship, Wooyoung and Yeonjun’s. They both started when Yeonjun was just 22, and Wooyoung 16, but then Yeonjun vanished in the middle of the year, only to come back and kiss Soobin, not Wooyoung. The mermaids gawked at Seonghwa’s explanation, so the rumors were true then, about him being notorious as the heartbreaker 'prince'. Then Seonghwa continued, that Wooyoung got over him in his seventeenth birthday, and in that year also, his relationship with San had bloomed. When the mermaids asked who San is, Wooyoung pointed the man on the crow’s nest, to which the mermaids looked at him and their jaws slackened. The mermaids thought they were just platonic best friends, because they’re not really the showy type that always boasts about their lover every time. They were bombarding Wooyoung questions, like ‘ _where the hell did you get him?_ ’ or ‘ _Did you seduce him?_ ’ and all of them are anwered patiently one by one.

When San came down from the crow’s nest, he was greeted with a smile coming from Wooyoung in the waters, he smiled back, and asked what they were talking about earlier. He blushed at the fact that they all were talking about his relationship with Wooyoung, but then joined them with a small ship—and Hongjoong tagged along as well.

“Dinner’s made by Yeo and and Jongho if you guys are hungry, especially you, starboy. You missed lunch.” Hongjoong pointed his finger to Seonghwa.

“Aye captain.” The mermaids also noticed a different glint in the prince’s eyes when he looked at Wooyoung and when he looked at Hongjoong. If he looked at Wooyoung, it was like a mother’s fond gaze to her son, but if Seonghwa’s eyes landed on Hongjoong, it was as if a wife finally caught a glance at his husband after a very long day, and it was very satisfying to watch.

“ _My prince, are you perhaps, in relationship with the captain?_ ” One of them boldly asked, the one with the blonde hair.

“ _Oh, you are really perceptive. I am indeed in a relationship with the captain._ ” Seonghwa shamelessly stated, deflating the hopes of the mermaids that the prince wasn’t taken.


	19. maintain this fever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is basically a cheesy chapter :')

The waves of magic felt stronger, especially for Seonghwa and Mingi. Waves of them usually come intensely at three in the morning, then die down at six—which made them practically sleepless at that time. No matter how hard they tried, both can’t seem to sleep at all.

Hongjoong noticed the stir on the bed, and Seonghwa’s gone from his arms. He tried to wake up, and when he did, he saw Seonghwa curling and sniffling to the bedsheets.

“Hey starboy, you alright?” The captain asked, worried about his lover.

“Ye-yeah-” He’s not okay. His voice cracked, and his sobs were getting louder as he heaved for air to calm himself.

“What’s botherin’ you in this ‘our?”

“I can’t sleep Joong—I tried to, but I just can’t! The magic’s been keeping me awake-”

“Hush now baby,” Hongjoong scooted closer to Seonghwa, calming him down with peppering tender kisses on Hwa’s face. Then his hands began to find it’s way to Seonghwa’s, intertwining them ever so softly and gently, to which the siren responded by tightening his grip. “ _When you try your best, but you don't succeed,_ ” Hongjoong had started singing.

“ _When you get what you want but not what you need~, when you feel so tired, but you can't sleep, stuck in reverse,_ ” His free hand started to caress the black locks delicately, soothing Seonghwa’s heart even more. “Don’t you worry darling, ‘cause _lights will guide you home, and ignite you bones, and I will try… to fix you,_ ” He ended it with a chaste kiss on Seonghwa’s temple, erasing all the siren’s uneasiness and replaced it with a serene feeling.

“Thank you,” Seonghwa said as he looked at his lover fondly.

“Anything for my star, the one who filled the cavity in my chest with so much twinkling lights,”

_If you think that this chapter is going to talk about Yunho and Mingi again, no. This is reserved for our umbrella lovers, Wooyoung and San._

San hadn’t realized that morning passed into evening so easily. Although he was never a morning person, he’s also not a night owl who sleeps at three and wakes up at twelve. He’s simply lazy sometimes, and it made time pass faster.

“San-ah, it’s raining outside,” Wooyoung said while peering out, body on the edge of their bed. He seemed excited, but San didn’t know what got him that way.

“So?” He asked with a soft voice, because he was just going to sleep when Wooyoung mentioned it.

“I’ve been reading these… uhm… romance novels that Hongjoong hyung had, and… one of them had the lovers dancing under the rain… and it sounded so… _fun_ , like, _dancing under the rain, how romantic can it get?_ ” Wooyoung’s eyes were sparkling, and he looked so expectant— _San isn’t dumb to notice that the siren wanted to try it._

“You wanna try?” He asked.

“Yeah! Of course!” Despite him being a vicious looking leviathan, Wooyoung is still just a kid inside the shell of an adult body, still young and still in the lasts of his teenage years.

“I’ll have to prepare my change of clothes first.” The older said, then opened up his trunk to see if there’s any. He picked up a beige shirt and brown pants, then took off his own shirt to toss it off the bed.

“Why are you undressing?!” Wooyoung looked… kind of surprised.

“You’ve never seen the body of a man before?” San jokingly asked, but the siren replied it with a serious nod. “Even Yeonjun’s?” Another nod.

The man’s body was lean, lines carved roughly with broad shoulders and small waist—enough to make the siren fall in love for the millionth time for his human boyfriend. San popped his joints, then something resembling of a black patch of skin on his left chest caught Wooyoung’s eye. It was a curvy, with alphabets written on that place, tainting the skin like ink to paper. It was written: ‘ _Wooyoung’._

“San?” The siren asked, mind still cloudy to find the reason why his name was there.

“What? Oh. Did you see my tattoo?” San looked bashful while mentioning it.

“Why was my name there? Doesn’t it hurt to ink your skin with needles?”

“Hmm? I want to remember that you’re my only one, and you’re the only one who should be in front of my heartbeat— _you matter before me._ I know this looked really simple, I didn’t really have time to decorate it in another parlor as we move port to port.”

“Can I… touch it?” Wooyoung was quite touched by his lover’s statement, but he knew someday someone will replace San— _or worse, somebody will replace him within San’s heart_ —but he dismissed his thoughts— _stupid heart and your trauma because of that bitch Yoenjun_.

It was bumpy, a little rough, but it was nevertheless beautiful. His name, it’s his name. His only known identity to the world, and it was there on San.

“So? You like it?” The man asked, still not sure why Wooyoung’s frowning.

“I love it Sanie,” He tried to be convincing, but San still looked at him with worry.

“Are you… perhaps still afraid that you are replacable? Wooyoungie?” San knew his insecurity—his trauma of being replaced so suddenly and so secretively, because of that one asshole.

“Y-yes-”

“I know somebody who could,”

“Who?” Wooyoung was scared of San’s outright confession.

“Our future children, my dear,” And the man said it like it was nothing big. Like it didn’t make Wooyoung’s heart leap into space and came crashing back. His face reddened by the statement, and he was left speechless by San who went out of their room.

He hurriedly matched his pace with San, who had already ran on the deck shirtless under the rain. If they were in towns, people would definitely thought that his boyfriend’s a madman right off the bat. His mood changed rapidly from loving and calm to chaotic and child-like—twirling around under the grey skies as water pour over his entire body.

“Join me Youngie!” San held out his hand, offering Wooyoung into the madness he was in. The siren took it in no time, and both had already begun their detour around the deck while dancing—oftentimes remembering what Mingi and Yunho taught them.

“Don’t we twist to the left?”

“Isn’t it to the right though?”

“Huh?”

Both laughed at their brittle memories, realizing that they’re too focused on arriving to the isles until they had simply forgotten how to have fun. Jongho and Yeosang joined them after hearing some wild noises from up the deck, and all of them laughed happily while drenched with rainwater.

Yeosang was dancing beautifully, freestyling and formed his body into a position no one knew he could do—as if he were a drawing on a canvas, drawn by some genius artist. The siren had more flexibility than all of them, making the others envious of how his body could contort without such pain and cramps striking while his muscles stretch.

“Show ‘em what ya got Sangie!” This was a rare fleeting moment where Jongho had forgotten to slip hyung behind Yeosang’s name—and usually the pet name was reserved only when they were in their room.

Yeosang was pretty much nimble and quick on his feet, a proficiency not every siren could achieve even if they had walked on the surface for years. Yeosang _trained_ his feet to be like one of those… dances, what you call in human language as ballet. But he was nothing of a master, he could only do so much before he ran out of movements. They continued to dance their night away under the rain, under all that water soaking to their core as their souls rejoice.


	20. oxygen, fire, you and i will make this blueish light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be prepared for the climax guys ;), this chapter is just before it.

The third week went by faster than they thught. The mermaids made less appearences on the water’s surface, enabling them to actually focus as they got even closer. There were four of them, Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, and Chaeyoung, or usually called Rose within the group.

Seonghwa was sure that this is the place, yet nothing seemed to fill the void that they had in front of their eyes. It was already nearing three in the morning, when everything should take place, where the mist would form and they would come in there to find Utopia.

A sudden gust of wind had woken up all the nearly-asleep Wooyoung and San— _both laid down on the floor tiredly because they were excited when the night had finally came, but then their rush of adrenaline seemed to dissapear right this moment._

That draft of wind began to thicken, and the air became heavier as more and more wind were blowing, opening Ateez’s sail and moved the Sunrise on it’s own. It took their ship forward, and they cannot do anything—they tried to hold the sails down, but not any single thing happened.

“Everybody get ready! This is the mist before sunrise!” Seonghwa shouted to all of them, to which Mingi responded with changing their clothes to their usual all-black outfit. Their weapons were there with them too, but nothing more. They too, noticed that the amulets they wore to hide the bizzare hair colours of the siren cannot work here, because the second Yeosang opened his hat, a flurry of pale platinum blonde hair— _that looked like sun rays according to Jongho_ —had fallen off instead of the usual black or brownish strands.

As Yunho clicked, nothing seemed to echo and all he was met is the deck of Sunrise, and nothing more. Nothing big, and the waters seemed deep. He desperately clicked three more times to make sure, and it seemed that nothing had happened—there were still nothing.

Until he heard Mingi scream that there was another ship.

He clicked, and nothing comes into his vision.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

“Seonghwa hyung! I see nothing!” Yunho shouted, to which Seonghwa realized what he’s gotta do.

He opened his third eye.

No soul could be seen.

Nothing more than just the colors of Ateez resonating in their own magnitude, no more than just the eight of them, plus four of the mermaid’s underwater.

Then Seonghwa began to walk to the front of the ship, because he was not sure if his eyes played tricks or not.

Ateez was steadily moving when the sound of boots suddenly landed on the deck. Nobody was jumping— _nobody in the right mind would_ —and they concluded it as an intruder.

It was a man. A man, that had rotten flesh, torn apart, and clothes strewn haphazardly only to cover a small expanse of skin because it was ripped apart. He walked, and walked, and walked, and nobody there dared to make a move as they watched him walk to Yunho.

“ _Guide them. Guide them all to the lost islands._ ”

It was a foreign language—but he understood every meaning of it. Every nook and cranny of every word could be understood. He had to steer, he had to lead Sunrise to that place. He never got to look at the person’s face, but he was glad that somebody gave him a big piece of information. _He could feel that Aucteraden had personally tasked this man to tell himself this._ That man then dissapeared into thin air, leaving all of them stunned.

When his hands gripped the helm, something resembling of a map had laid inside his ‘vision’. Like he could see all the things behind the fog, and all beyond it. And it’s beautiful. The way that the three islands were protected inside an atoll was a stunning view even for a sightless man like him.

“Found it!” The others stayed in their place, but was glad that someone was able to guide them. Yunho displayed a full grin, his white eyes now crinkling like crescents and mouth curled happily as he steers Sunrise to the right way.

They were startled when people started to jump on their decks. Unknown people, jumping in their decks. A strange sight to see, but nevertheless frightening.

“See anything pup?” Mingi asked him from below, to which Yunho answered with shaking his head. Something is wrong, Seonghwa thought, because the blind could not see it, so it must be- “An illusion. See no evil—Mingi! This is what they meant by see no evil!”

“Wait what really?”

“I see no souls here! It must be an illusion to fend off people from entering without a steady teamwork!”

Hongjoong then tried something really out of the box. He stabbed one of the person, and it just got through, then vanished into thin air.

“Then what’s speak no evil?” The witch asked, wanting to complete the puzzle in his brain.

“When we tell each other the truth, about these illusions,”

“So then hear no evil is trusting that person who spoke to you?” Mingi asked.

“You are correct. It’s hypothetical though, but I think this is the right interpretation. Because nobody is perfect, but building a team that has a bond beyond friendship could cover for one another.”

San and Wooyoung began to just touch them one by one like playing tag, and one by one dissapeared, to which he and the siren giggled happily.

“Tag, you’re it!”

Sunrise stopped in the shallow waters, the wind gone and the sails deflate as they approach something that would look very dreamy in every man’s eyes. Auroras were dancing up there, like thin green-blue silk decorating the sky, hanging off it like a decoration.

‘ _We stop here. There are three boats waiting for us._ ’ Yeosang signed after he clapped to get the attention. He was told by the last illusion that he touched, that three boats were waiting for them. ‘ _Let’s go down._ ’ He signed again.

“Let us go down then. Let us trust what all of them are doing, and if it leads to our undoing then let them lead us to it.” Hongjoong said, putting his soul to his crew’s disposal. He was the first one to jump, the first one to try—and possibly also the first one to die. But thankfully he didn’t, of course. _Where would this story go without their captain and a person missing from eight makes one team?_

The boats were on the other side of the atoll, and the rim of the atoll was only as big as approximately three meters, so they trotted with ease. When Wooyoung went in to the waters, he was greeted by something resembling of a female body made by water, then it told him to be the one— _or Violet, to be excact—_ who will guide each one of the couple to their islands.

When she mentioned couple, Wooyoung could only think of his lover though. Where would San go? “ _He wait for you, after you take them to the islands, you will come back here._ ”

He nodded, then swam to change himself entirely again into the sea monster.

“ _Captain and Seonghwa-hyung, aboard that boat please, and follow me. Don’t worry, the waves will help you if you stray from your path._ ” Violet said, then dove deep to wait for the first one.


	21. - you are dancing with me in the arms of light -

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One out of four climax chapters!

As Seonghwa and Hongjoong were climbing on their boats, they noticed the mermaids were missing from their sight. Maybe, just maybe, they decided to run away. But no, then a head shown up. It was Jennie.

“ _I will stay here, well, all four of us will stay here, we won’t do anything._ ”

Seonghwa was relieved, then he climbed up with the help of Hongjoong.

They rowed the small, white colored boat with golden decorations, with equally white and golden oars following the leviathan deep into another layer of mist.

They rowed, and rowed and rowed. But nothing seemed to be taking shape, nor nothing seemed to pop out. Hongjoong seemed to look frustrated, rowing deeper every row he made, in hopes that they would go faster to their destination. No, it didn’t make their boat go faster, to tell you the truth.

Then, Violet abruptly stopped, making both halt too as they question the leviathan’s actions. “ _Keep rowing forward. My task is done here,_ ”

After their millionth time rowing, a shore could be seen along with an island. The sands were pink-ish, the palm trees were swaying animatedly under the aurora-filled night sky, and it all doesn’t seem real. Like, all of them seemed to come off from another realm, but stuck here as their portal had gone somewhere else.

Both held hands to a mouth of a cave, where something seemed to call them. The crystals were a nice lighting to Seonghwa’s face, the bluish light made his features look sharp and lovely, a sight that would forever be remembered and cherished by Hongjoong.

They walked. And walked. And walked. The crystals were smaller now, lighting their way in their dim lights as both tried to step on the path before them. It was all dark and unassuming, echoes that came from their steps filled the empty cave to the brim, and it sure sounded loud for both of them.

Then, out of nowhere, a lake filled with luminous blue water emerged from the depths of the cave, welcoming them by it’s soft rays.

“ _Dive, my child. And he will follow you to the sacred place._ ”

Hongjoong heard that too, and seemed even more distressed at the fact that he had to separate with Seonghwa.

“Joong, you heard her.”

“But-”

“But what, captain?”

Hongjoong placed a chaste kiss on the siren’s lips, long enough to make them both gasp for air when they broke it.

“Can you… promise me something?” Hongjoong took Seonghwa’s hands in his, clasping it with both of his smaller ones, as if he was pleading.

“Yeah?”

“Just… don’t die. Come back to me. Can you do that?” The captain asked, because anything, literally anything, could happen down there and Hongjoong isn’t there to help Seonghwa.

“Yes, my love. Anything for you.”

Hongjoong’s hands that gripped the siren’s had loosen up, sighing in defeat as he saw Seonghwa change, going back to his home, the waters. Hongjoong didn’t know that Seonghwa had something on his back— _well, had a tattoo on his back_. It was a small butterfly in the middle of his back, and under it, is a writing that said; ‘ _be free_ ’ written in cursive letters. _Wasn’t it copied from his collection of secret drawings inside his notes?_ He was mesmerised, wanting to touch it- but Seonghwa had gone before him—swam fast before him.

 _‘I have to follow him on foot_. _’_ He figured. In front of him laid a path surrounded by crystals with a big tunnel, leading to god knows where. He stepped his first foot. Nothing seems to happen—he’s glad.

His pitter patter of boots had became faster and faster each passing second, to the point where he just sprints the whole way throughout the tunnel, eager and worried of his lover.

As Seonghwa dove deeper, he could hear something calling. Something calling his name, calling his very core, _calling his lost soul_. Nobody was visible there, aside from the dark and murky blue-ish water he seemed to be swimming at.

It was black when he looks down, like an endless, deep void that’s ready to eat him whole. He continued to flutter his tail against the cloudy water, and he felt his gills started to form on his hips, a trait that he inherited from his mother. His teeth had also sharpened, he could feel it prick his gums a little while it turned.

It was an agonizing silence to say the least. Imagine that you could not hear anything aside from you inhaling and exhaling, which causes only a little to zero sound if you were Seonghwa. The call was more like a pull, a pull to move, to push forward, to find Hongjoong wherever his lover might end up.

_He hopes Hongjoong didn’t end up in a trap._

Hongjoong felt his steps faltering. _This tunnel has no end_ —he thought. Getting one foot to walk for him is harder now, and there’s no Seonghwa to cheer him up as if the world’s not ending right here. He felt his world crumbling. He hadn’t felt this loneliness after Seonghwa decided to steal his heart, decided to take a piece of him, ad taking such delicate care of it. Hongjoong could see that piece _bloom_ into a the most magnificent flower, like it just fell off from the garden of eden. He could feel it pounding deep inside his chest, growing it’s strong roots as it thrives under the showers of Seonghwa’s love. He could feel his lung suffocate from the sheer size of the flower, it had developed into a large blossom that filled all the void inside of his empty soul.

“Seong…hwa-” His voice cracked, he could bear this pain no longer, and all he wanted to do was to find his most beloved starboy—he wanted to hug, to kiss, to just caress those soft inky locks against his hand-

But his prince is missing here.

‘ _I have to be strong-I have to reach him-_ ’ His mind shrieked, and his foot had found a new strength to run again, to burn once again, and to gladly sacrifice once again for his love.

A light had enveloped him as he suddenly felt like he was in a room. Well he is, technically. In a room with white drapery and a compass on his hand.

 _Where does it point to?_ He asked himself.

“ _It will point to your greatest desire, Kim Hongjoong._ ” A voice answered him, and he felt a pang of famliliarity on that tone. Deep, velvety, and soothing. _Zenith._

_What is my greatest desire?_

_Gold?_

_Glory?_

_Fame?_

_Power?_

But he felt nothing—his heart didn’t race in the mention of that—but then he realized-

_Seonghwa. My greatest desire is to be with Seonghwa._

“Hear me, Zenith,” Hongjoong decided to voice it out.

“ _Have you made your choice?_ ”

“Could this… compass point to a person, rather than an object?”

“ _Definitely, my child, it could be anything._ ”

“I want it to point to where Seonghwa is. I know it sounded so romantic and fake but believe me—I just want to make sure that he’s safe.” Hongjoong rambled, not aware of a body forming in front of him.

“Oh, my child,” She was tall, nearly as tall as him, and had features that resembled so much of Seonghwa. “I could see the truth in your eyes. I wish Junmyeon was like that too when he looked at me. But anyways,” She paused. “I figured that you’re eager to meet him, correct?”

“Yes.” All it took Hongjoong was a yes, and yet another tunnel appeared in front of him.

“ _Go, and find him, my child. You have made the right choice_ ,”

Hongjoong ran again, as fast as he could. The tunnel was like a bottleneck, expanding into a big space that had eight entryways. He looked at his compass, and it seemed to point at the right ones, but it still looked vague until he stepped closer and closer. It was then he figured the path that will lead him to his lover is the one second to the right.

As he entered it, he glanced back to find everything pitch black behind him.

_I cannot and will not turn back once I made my choice_.

Seonghwa felt like he was entering something resembling of a cylinder, with two separate ends and a hole where he stays in the middle. He was aware that the other end of the pipe—the one he went in from—had transformed into something like a vision, and the front end too. The two images were explicitly different, each had their own significance that made Seonghwa very intrigued to watch them.

The one on the back displayed him winning the war against Silverwave and became king, then married to a mermaid to have a peaceful life underwater with his children. It was clear that this will never lead him to Hongjoong, this will only lead him out the isles and never come back again. He looked… happy, but he could see the loneliness and longing behind that fake smile, the bitter pain that he felt all too familiar.

Then there was something interesting in front of him. Hongjoong stood there, looking happy with two small children, one cradled and the other holding his hand, that had a mixture of both their faces and personality. The one cradled called him; ‘ _Mama,’_ , and the other one shouted; ‘ _Mama! Come quickly!_ ’ over and over again, and made Seonghwa’s heart truly realized what he wanted. He wanted a life with Hongjoong, _a forever, if they could_.

Se he swam forward. To his future with Hongjoong, taking the path down the forked road to his lover and sealing his fate.

“SEONGHWAAA!!” Hongjoong shouted in the tunnels, still searching his love inside this endless maze that led him somewhere unknown.

“SEONGHWAAA!!” He shouted again, hoping to find at least a reply from him. No, there’s none. _His voice doesn’t even echo_.

“Gods… fuck this shit-” He then felt his heart ignite into a burn, into a big fire that fueled his last attempt to run.

_And he ran_. To wherever it takes him, to wherever Seonghwa is.

As Seonghwa swam forward, he could see that there’s kind-of a surface above him, not just an empty, black space, and he eagerly swam forth to that surface.

He found himself in a small lake, surrounded by greeneries, and the blue light from the moon and stars shines brilliantly above him. The aurora still danced in the skies, still enjoying itself being under the stars. He then saw another tunnel above, a different one that leads to the shore of this lake. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see a thing inside.

The he heard footsteps, someone running, someone calling his name. _Hongjoong_.

“Seonghwa!” It was small, breathy, and _desperate_. A figure then came out, running and panting as he slumped down to the pinkish sands under his foot.

“Joongie?” The second it came out of Seonghwa’s mouth, Hongjoong scrambled to get up again, to finally greet his prince after a period of loneliness. The sands cruched as the captain ran once more, towards where his compass pointed to, towards his greatest desire, _his treasure_.

“Seonghwa-” He fell on his knees, still not believing that his lover is there, facing him with wet, slicked back hair, _waiting for him_.

“ _You came back to me—you didn’t die-_ ”

“I didn’t, captain.” He slowly changed his body back into his two-legged form, rising up from the waveless waters to Hongjoong. He kneeled beside his lover, looking at him with such a soothing expression no one could ever form but him. He then slowly carded his hands against the captain’s equally black hair, wetting it and made him look up.

Hongjoong felt damp on his cheeks, hot tears streamed and burned his skin as it goes down. _Seonghwa- alive?_ His brain still processes all of this, because everything had felt like some fever dream.

He felt his face crushed between Seonghwa’s hands and the prince’s chest, and he basked at the comfortable warmth Seonghwa had given him.

“ _Wrap around me, my aurora._ ”


	22. come in as we don't care, we're not afraid anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> male selkies can't bear children. This is important.

Violet got back after fifteen minutes, according to Mingi’s pocket watch. He and all the others were waiting, but Yunho seemed a little bit off since they had landed.

“Mingi-ah,” He called his darling. “Are there stars tonight?”

“Yes pup, there are stars tonight,”

“I wish I could stargaze with you,” The selkie said solemnly, but he quickly hid his face so Mingi couldn’t see him. The witch had always wanted to stargaze with Yunho, to tell every story about each one of them, or to just be able to marvel at the sparkling lights-

But he knew Yunho couldn’t see. He knew Yunho is blind. He knew all too well that he is loving a man who only sees black.

“ _Mingi and Yunho, please board your boat,_ ” Violet said, pulling both out of their respective trances. He held Yunho’s hand, making sure that the blind slekie stepped on the boat safely before he does.

“ _Follow me._ ”

They both rowed into a deep and dense mist, diving inside the uncertainty with no visible answers. Mingi closed his eyes, wanting to feel the pain that Yunho had gone through all these years as a person, and wanting to know how it feels like even though his pup had told him everything.

He remembered when Yunho was brought home—they were still three at that time, still so young and so innocent. The aquamarine haired selkie was still in his seal form when so suddenly Mingi’s dad said that he will be his friend from now on. He remembered playing with Yunho for the first time—they played the wooden train inside Mingi’s living room while waiting for lunch. He remembered growing up with the selkie, telling him stories about how an asshole his father could be, and told him how he missed his mother— _she went to an overnight trip that evening to a friend’s house_ —and how everything was different for Yunho who could not see.

“ _Mingi? What color am I seeing then?_ ” He remembered Yunho asking that.

“ _Huh? I think… black? Because I see the same when closing my eyes,_ ” And looking back, there’s a lot he wanted to say sorry. When he didn’t understand what it takes to just see, when he forcibly opened Yunho’s eyelids only to find white, when he- there’s seriously a lot.

“Darling?” Yunho asked him, because he unconciously stopped rowing for a good few minutes.

“Y-yeah?”

“Concentrate,” Yunho reminded him.

It was then that Mingi noticed the fog clear up a bit, but it still seemed endless since another row only led them deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Yunho had also started clicking, and Mingi recognized this all to well—that the clicks were desperate, he was searching for something, he was desperate to see something other than the thick fog, Mingi and Wooyoung. It continued for a good two minutes, when their boat hits Wooyoung rather hard.

“Why stopping?” Mingi asked.

“ _Row forward, my job to lead you ends here._ ” Violet said, then promptly left them alone to attend the other two.

“Okay-” Mingi huffed, calming himself—preventing a wave of pannic attack that had began hazing his mind. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

“Nice job calming yourself darling,” Yunho praised him, because in fifteen years knowing Mingi, sometimes the said man just drowned inside his feelings, drown inside his emotions and can’t swim back up until he could calm down inside those waters and try to breath down the heavy liquid. Or it was as if Mingi was inside a current of his torn emotions, and Yunho had to be his anchor to make sure his boat doesn’t go anywhere.

“Thanks.”

Something dark was waiting for them in front. Like something towering, something that is a thousand times bigger than their gangly bodies. As the mist finally split apart, they were greeted by a tall cliff, made out of greyish rocks and accompanied with weird looking plants that grows on them.

Then out of nowhere, an entryway in a form of a cave had appeared before both of them, and something tugged at their hearts to just row on that direction. So they did.

Once they came in though, everything became dark and damp—only leaving some blue crystals on the roof of the cave to illuminate the path as they rowed deeper into the abyssal depths.

The boat seemed to hit something hard, and yes, the boat had hit the shore of the cave, where a ground could be seen and walked on to. Mingi was the first one to get out, leaving Yunho in the boat waiting—and then Mingi took his hands, guiding Yunho slowly on his feet to stand.

“Aw, my boots are soaked,” Yunho sulked, because he, out of all the Ateez crew, is the only one who is very allergic to wet boots. He’d rather walk on the wooden deck barefooted than having wet boots for the rest of the day.

“Well, what can you do?” Mingi asked rhetorically to reply him.

They both began to tread the path under their foot, leading them to the depths of the unknown every passing second. Mingi had felt the sense of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach, unable to get rid of most of it—and if this continues to build up, he’d have another panic attack.

Luckily, Yunho was quick to notice the jagged breaths that Mingi seemed to let out, and linked their hands together so his darling wouldn’t hyperventilate. His thumb caresses Mingi’s knuckles, effectively soothing the troubled man. Steps of wet boots began to splotch again as they continued their walk, not knowing what is waiting.

A blue lake had awaited them with stars as their ceiling, an open area that is so very wide inside such an island.

“ _Come home, my child._ ” A male voice said, and it sounded quite similar to Yunho’s voice.

“I can’t leave him,” Yunho rejected the offer.

“ _Please, I promise you’ll meet him again._ ”

“Go, Yunho. I’ll follow.” Mingi pushed him a little, encouraging him to take the offer once again.

“You promise me darling?”

“Yes pup. I will never let you out my sight.” He kissed the pouty lips once to reassure his lover.

A small, beige colored boat had formed magically in the shores just as Mingi said he wanted to follow, and Yunho quickly grabbed his seal skin to change and dive inside. The selkie sat on the shallow waters as he puts on the hood of his skin, then quickly diving in to reveal his grey-skinned animal form. Mingi then quickly went in the boat, then stood up because the oar is way too long if he paddles while sitting.

The selkie felt a tug in his heart. Like something wanted him to be there, something—or someone wanted to meet him. He responded to that call by swimming in that direction, and as he treads the water, Mingi is behind him following dilligently.

The direction that Yunho went had led them both to a small river that had wisteria trees beside, and the luminescent purple color bled lavender tinted lights to them, making their path seem magical and unreal.

Mingi noticed that Yunho’s presence had gone farther and farther each time he paddles—like he’s slipping away into some other dimension, but he really couldn’t put a finger on it.

He didn’t realize Yunho had gone completely. He was in a catatonia, numbed from all his senses until somehow his seal pup had dissapeared from his plane of reality. He looked around, noticing that the wisteria trees are denser already, long branches curtained the riverbank with purple. He took some of the flowers with him, putting them inside his pocket for memorabilia.

He began to tread the path in front alone, with no signs of it ending around this time, and he still could see the stars from here clearly. He could feel his breathing quicken and mind going haphazardly jumbled as the thought of Yunho dissapearing seeped through his cracks caused by anxiety, filling it with acid and corroding it slowly and painfully. _No, no, don’t panic. Breathe in, breathe out, you’re good, we’re good._

Then something weird happened. There was another cave before him, and there’s no other way since when Mingi tried to throw the petals to the riverside, it bounced off like there’s some protective barrier seperating them between the plane of reality and this- _distorted_ one.

Yunho felt like he was hypnotized by the intriguing sounds of somewhat an orchestral arrangement, like it had intended to persuade him down another rabbit hole where he couldn’t get back up. He felt himself slipping time by time, presence fading and soul flying—if that’s possible. He hadn’t died though, because he could still clearly feel himself swimming down, _down, down, down the spiral of infinite possibilities._

As he went deeper and deeper, he clicked— _but to no avail_. There was no echo, no sound, like he was dampened in a small box made out of sponges to silence him out. _Was the wall too wide for his click to echo back? Was there any wall at all? Was this just his mind messing with him?_

_But no._

He was sucked in to yet another place, and yet another piece of orchestral music that puts him at ease was played, waiting for a catastrophe to begin as the song reached it’s climax.

Mingi had went in the cave for what felt like… hours to the least, but he was only met with a dark colored shore. Nothing was on it— _barren_ —like a wasteland full of nothing. He walked. And walked, and walked. One step at a time surely got him nowhere, but hey at least it’s progress.

His mind quickly shut itself out after something happened in a blink of an eye—he was transported to a room—full of visions—full of what he could’ve done and what he could achieve in a different reality. He figured that he could go to that place if he desires, but then one vision stood out of the rest.

He saw himself, with three children—one on Yunho’s lap, and the other two seemed to run around him.

“ _When will the stars come out Papa? You said it’s around this time,_ ”

And it was enough to set him off. _He wanted to have that. Wanted so desperately to have a family with the one he love so dearly-_

So he puts his palm on that vision—and it bursted into a million pieces before it clumped up again, this time, making a portal that leads somewhere.

_Yunho. Ring. Fire. Wait. Fire? Ring of fire?_

“Oh god pup-” He lets his arm in the portal, and he could most definitely pick up on the boiling heat on his skin-

Then he could feel as if his body is engulfed by a giant fire. He dove in that portal without a second thought, because the only coherent thought that clung in his mind was how to get to his pup.

“Pup!” Yunho could hear Mingi, but he couldn’t find where he was. His body felt unbearably hot _, hot, hot_ , like searing stone put onto his skin with no mercy. “Mingi!” He frantically searched for his darling, clicking as much as he could, but nothing materialized in his sight.

“Do you trust me pup?” Mingi asked him from god knows where.

“Yes!” He could only answer as the assurance that his darling is there, so he treasured that.

Then he felt as if his body were overriden. Something was moving him out of his will, something was hanging him on a string lika a marionette—and he struggled to break free. He thrashed- kicking and puching whatever’s binding him, but his body declined his request and continued to only stay still.

“Stay still pup! It’s me!” _Oh._ He paused, then muttered continous sorrys as he felt his body got overriden once more. He needed to drill the thought that Mingi’s the one who controls his body, nothing would happen, _he surely won’t throw me to that hot place._

He felt his foot move one at a time, before halting and pausing— _sensing what’s beside him_ —then moved one step again.

It was agonizingly slow, but he could bear it if it were for Mingi.

And surely, he bumped on somethig firm yet soft—that something had garments on- wait. Mingi?

“Darling?” He asked, still not believeing it.

“Yes pup, ‘m here,” He was quickly engulfed in a hug, the heat just right and so snug against him like he dissapeared for an eternity.

He felt his foot move again, but this time at his will as Mingi drags him into another place that had colder temperature than that. It was a cool night’s breeze that greeted him, encasing every inch of his body with it’s coldness—and making Mingi’s warm hand contrast that coolness.

“ _My child. It is nice meeting you again._ ” They heard someone say. _Aucteraden? Didn’t he die five hundred years ago?_

“ _Congratulations. You have deemed that your love is worth more than it’s weight in gold-_ ” The older soul paused. “- _so I shall give you what you have lost._ ”

Yunho felt a warm palm on both of his eyes, so warm that he could feel it started melting away. His eye sockets then felt hollow, his blind eye’s gone.

Then he felt something warm filling it up. Like warm soup on a bowl, the thing filled and was shaped like it’s mold. He also felt a small scaled pain inside his stomach, but he could bear it since it was so unassuming.

“ _Open this blindfold after the first light of dawn, do you understand, Mingi?_ ”

“Yes. I fully do.”

“ _If I caught you both opening it before sunrise, then I will not hesitate to take my gift back.”_

“Alright.”


	23. it's a good day even if we don't say a single word

Jongho had paced back and forth for god knows how long, feet unable to stop this feeling of uneasiness that had long settled in his brain. His foot took him round and round and round and round again, until he felt tired and slumped himself at the sands.

Yeosang heard this, and asked him if he’s okay. “I’m just anxious, that’s all Sangie.” Jongho shrugged it off, not wanting to worry the siren.

Jongho had this habit where he calls Yeosang in different ways according to his mood. If he’s neutral, then he’d call ‘Sang-hyung’ or ‘Sangie-hyung’. But when he’s extra happy or anxious, he’d slip on ‘Sangie’ only, without the honorifics and that is what happened here. Yeosang pats Jongho’s hair a few times, reassuring the younger that it’ll be just fine for all of them.

Violet came to them around another fifteen minutes or so, and Yeosang is so ready to get this over with. They both quickly got in to the boat, positioning themselves in the seats, and pulling out the oars to paddle. Yeosang looked at his reflection on the water, making sure that nothing is actually below them or following them.

‘ _You good?_ ’ He asked the younger.

“Yeah. ‘m good. Let’s go,” Jongho plunged his oar underwater upon a small splash, and with that, they paddled forward.

As Yeosang paddled, he could hear voices that didn’t belong to him nor the two others that were accompanying him. It was new to him, yet so very familiar and so verry comforting—it feels like coming home from such a long journey.

Those voices were commanding him to leave Jongho and go to the desert—to a place where nothing exists and a place where they had started— _at nothingness, and from that, they had built such a wonderful relationship._

The mist surrounding them had thickened up, to the point where they didn’t see Violet swimming away and kept paddling forward to wherever Yeosang’s heart led them. Jongho had trusted Yeosang, so if the siren leads him to his demise, then he shall do just that, no questions will be asked, simple as that.

They were only accompanied by the sounds of water sloshing around, and no sight of land as it is veiled under the dense mist surrounding the two.

Then, Yeosang’s ear picked up the sound of water hitting the shores, so he quickly signed to Jongho, and the younger looked quite excited at the mention of that.

They began to paddle faster and faster, not caring how much water splashed on their bodies and the commotion made, because everything will surely go faster if they arrive faster.

Once their boat had hit the pinkish shore, Yeosang was the first one to go down. He felt sand crunching underneath his boots, a good sign that this is a legitimate island. Jongho then followed suit, his feet catching up with Yeosang’s as they walked to a dense forest.

The forest looked nothing like real though, as the leaves were pink and purple and blue instead of their usual shades of green and white—and their trunks colored tosca—which made zero sense at all.

Still, they walked.

They tread the path that had been presented under their noses, and proceeded to walk again hastily to wherever it leads them.

But then it forked. There was a red marker and a blue one in each one. Yeosang went in to the red, meanwhile Jongho had a feeling they should be going to the blue one.

“Sangie?” He asked, but Yeosang isn’t behind him. He quickly turned back, ran to the entrance, then made a u-turn to the red path. Something blocked him. Something resembling Mingi’s invisible wall is blocking him from Yeosang and he can’t break it-

Then Yeosang took notice. He signed; ‘ _I’ll be fine. Let’s meet at the other end._ ’ Then turned his back to walk down his path. Jongho felt his feet slump down, his hands clenching and crunching the leaves below him, and his breaths were getting shallow. _No, no! Yeosang-_

But he had to save his tears for later. No matter what, because if he cried here, then it means he can’t take what’s next—so he scrambled back up, composing himself again, recollecting his broken pieces again, and puts it in his pocket. _There’s zero time for this shit Jongho. Look forward._

Yeosang felt regret gnawing at his heart as he left Jongho alone, unattended and unsupervised on his own—because he still cares deeply for the younger like Jongho’s his little brother before he is Yeosang’s lover.

No matter how hard it is to not look back, his heart had set it’s mind forward, and he had to also remind Jongho that.

He found himself in the middle of a desert, so barren, so empty, and so… desolate. Sands crunched and vibrated again under his boots, but now it felt different. It was hot, exceptionally hot—and the winds stung his skin as he walked forward. His heart longed for something—something that resembles of a fuel, of a sated feeling that could only be found one way inside a desert—he had to find an oasis.

He felt deprived, _dehydrated_ —and somehting just feel so off, he can’t seem to figure it out. He reaches out to whoever called him, but nothing had happened. His caller is… busy? Shouldn’t be though…

Jongho was led to another plane of reality. It was all dark, and the path shown in front of him were endless flights of stairs. Black stairs, and the light flashed on him seemed to move the same time as him, following his body wherever it landed—which wasn’t really that far.

He felt like he had to go up, up and up.

He could _feel_ that Yeosang wanted him to go up.

As he walked the stairs leading to somewhere unknown, he could see things beside him. Like, what would happen if he chose to leave Yeosang, what’ll happen when he turns back, what happens when he could reach Yeosang-

_He could see three children playing—jumping around, shrieking and shouting like rowdy kids they are—but then he also saw Yeosang going to the kids, and held their hands tightly._

_“Let’s go sail again Appa!”_

Are those… his— _no,_ **_their_** children? Like… Jongho and Yeosang’s? Because their features looked similar to them, especially when two of the three inherited his own gummy smile. And that sight, to be honest, looks so fucking heartwarming, especially for Jongho who’s losing his motivation to walk forward.

He then took his newfound motivation to his heart, and practically leapt up the stairs—until he could feel that even the light hovering above couldn’t pick up his pace.

Yeosang had finally found something in that desolate sands. Something… intriguing, yet… so weird that it had ended up here.

It was a piece of mirror, still sharp on the edges, and small— _too perfect for the size of his hand_.

It glinted against the light, and it sure caught Yeosang’s eye in the middle of a barren desert like this. He picked it up, not sure it would do any significance for his search on the oasis, but well, at least there’s something.

Then Yeosang could see all kinds of things that still stirred in his heart until this point. Jongho, oasis, and the way out. He could only think of three things. _Those._

One by one, things started to appear in front of him.

The oasis. It was big, like a big lake that popped out of nowhere. It had blue waters and looked very enticing yet… Yeosang doesn’t know what’s inside it. When he nears it, he could feel something calling him again towards that place, fuelling his desire to swim in and enjoy life once in a while.

But then he remembered Jongho. And he could see bubbles forming from under the lake— _could it be?_

He rushed, ran to the middle until he felt it was deep enough for him to change, then swam fast to the source of the bubble, only to find Jongho there floating in the middle lifelessly. It was as if he was sucked into Yeosang’s plane of reality, and his body is still so very shocked of the drastic change in nature.

Yeosang quickly placed two of his hands to Jongho’s bulky frame, swimming upwards hurriedly as he could feel Jongho’s heart weaken rapidly as the seconds go by if he were to be left unattended.

The siren threw Jongho’s body to the nearest surface, changing himself back to human sloppily as his mind could only think of one thing—how to keep his lover alive for now.

Yeosang wanted to scream, to call, to yell, but he knows that he can’t do it.

_How is he supposed to do that if he had no tongue?_

He straightened his hands on Jongho’s chest, aligning his palm on his lover’s sternum, then puts a lot of pressure at once, and lifted it quickly to see if there’s any reaction.

_Yeosang was venturing the seas when he saw a little boy, looking around his age, flailing around is if he couldn’t swim. He ignored it, well tried to, but the kid looked so distressed and tired. When the kid gave out, Yeosang rushed to save him from his demise, throwing him to the nearest shore then quickly turned back to escape once he knew the boy is saved. The next morning, when he swam alone again, he could see that the boy waited on something—something that is clearly inside the water as his eyes searched and scanned the seawater around him so thoroughly._

_“Hey! You!”_

_Yeosang whipped his head to the boy, putting half of it out as he stops to hear more._

_“Thank you for yesterday! My name’s Jongho!”_

Yeosang began to lose his hope in the third time he does that, and he got nothing close to a reaction. Not even a stir, not even a small whine. But then it all came crashing down when Jongho coughed lots of water out his nose and mouth—Yeosang quckly made the younger turn to his side so the water could get out easier as he pats Jongho’s back to ease the pain.

‘ _You okay now?_ ’ The older signed, because it was the first thing that he wanted to make sure.

Jongho nodded, mind still a bit cloudy from what just happened. _Him walking up, sucked in to the water, and Yeosang saving him on the desert_. It was hard to process, but… okay. He went to process them one by one, then it all seemed to line up.

“Yeo,” He squeaked, but it seemed too small for Yeosang who’s looking around for an exit.

“Angel-” His hand reached out, then Yeosang whipped his head to the younger’s direction

‘ _What?_ ’

“Come here.”

Yeosang felt himself suddenly engulfed in a bone-crushing hug, with lots of kisses on his cheeks and thank yous that came after it.

 _I could worry about it later_. He thought. He’d rather spend his time with Jongho than searching for a practically nonexistent way out. He returned the hugs and kisses, indulging and enjoying his time—until he remembered that he still had the mirror beside him.

_Could the mirror show them the way out too?_

Yeosang was nimble on his feet, taking the mirror with one swipe, then looked at it with an intent in his heart. Jongho watched him with questions in his eyes, but he could save all that for later, since a protal now was seen in front of them showing the island from before.

“ _Leave the mirror here._ ” Someone said, then Yeosang dropped it with ease. He has no need of it anymore, because Jongho and the way out is clear, and any of his wishes could come later rather than being greedy and then die because of it.

“Come on angel,” Jongho pulled his hand out, which Yeosang took it, then both jumped to the portal going out.

They were in the shores again, with their boats still intact and oars still stuck to the sands.

A figure appeared before them, looking so familiar yet so foreign. It called both of their hearts, it called for _them_.

“ _Hello there you two,_ ”

“Who are you?” Jongho asked.

“ _Matrinesse, my dear. I am here to give back what Yeosang lost, because he- no, you both have shown your worth and have returned my lost soul to it's resting place, so you shall be repaid with a bountiful life._ ”

“And what could it be?”

Matrinesse didn’t do anything, but Yeosang seemed to be surprised. He had something filling the cavity in his mouth, replacing what was long gone with something entirely new.

“Angel?”

“Yes?”


	24. thank you because we can depend on each other on this tough world

San had waited so very long for Wooyoung to come back. Like… it’s been an hour passing and there’s still zero sight of Wooyoung nor Violet. He wanted to swim throught the mist, but something in his mind told him not to interfere the leviathan’s duty.

He paced around the atoll, all alone and still alone right now—although he knew Wooyoung would go back to him… right?

San then remembered the family he left behind, his little sister Haneul that he left behind, his mother and father he left behind, and still feel a little guilty although he said his goodbyes to them. He hoped he could meet them someday and make them proud—proud of what he’s done, and proud on the choices that he had made.

He thought of Wooyoung, an orphan that never had parents, and of how he’d be so very welcomed in his family, how he’s going to be cooked warm meals and would get warm hugs whenever he wanted to—or of how Haneul could be friends with Wooyoung, an image of the siren lovingly teasing his little sister played on his mind.

He didn’t want to fake it, well, he missed his old life. Sort of. Like, a mundane life where you could savor every minute just walking around, looking at the horizon as the sun sets, feeling your feet hit the waves at the sea shore, find a girl that suits your taste, have a family in the tender age of twenty-five… and comparing it to his rowdy one now, god… what a life he had.

He then started to dig into his memories, from the first time he sailed, first time he killed as a mercenary, first time identifying as Ateez, first time kissing a boy and still kissing the boy every now and then—first time literally moving on from Jisu, _the one who betrayed him and never said sorry nor I love you too,_ to loving Wooyoung, the one who laughed with and at him, the one who kissed him more and said I love you too more times than he asked for, the one who said that he’s a ‘ _dense fucker_ ,’-

_Speaking of Wooyoung, where is he?_

Wooyoung felt so tired after swimming back and forth as a leviathan for thirty minutes straight. His body isn’t used to the big, bulky frame, and his siren frame is quite small, so it had taken a toll on him. Clearing out the heavy waves that might possibly drown the small boats behind him, following whatever Violet said to him, controlling his limbs that are too big for this world—Wooyoung just wants to sleep.

No matter how his mind wanted him to reach the shore first, he wanted to sleep. He wanted to doze off in the calming waves that rocked him gently, he wanted to sleep in the waters, inside the first thing he breathed as a child. _The sea calms him_.

“Wooyoung!”

He could hear somebody calling him. But his body wanted to go down, deeper and deeper, as if something were chaining him down, and he’s incapable of tearing them off.

So he drowns.

_Down,_

_Down,_

_Down,_

_Down,_

_He goes._

San could see the pale, lavender tail poking out of the surface of the waves, even though his vision is partially dulled because of the mist. Is it Wooyoung? It should be Wooyoung, since nobody here has his tail-

_Wait. Is he drowning?_

San felt his heart clench when he saw Wooyoung going down. He ran after the siren, but he could not run on water. So he swam towards his one and only lover.

His eye caught the pale body that’s drowning, but he couldn’t swim faster, he couldn’t swim deeper, he couldn’t-

_He couldn’t reach Wooyoung._

His heart ached, along with the stinging feeling inside his ears and the burn in his lungs.

_He dove inside the raging waters._

And he continued nevertheless. _To dive, to reach for Wooyoung_. Then suddenly, he felt lightheaded. There was not enough air in his lungs—not enough to support his flailing body and not enough air to even breathe again-

_He suffocates._

He could see flashes of their lives in the future, _both holding hands while their eyes focus on watching their children swim in the shallow waters-_

He tried to suck in whatever was left—which made him choke since it is water. But he pushed himself to his limit, even exceeding his limit.

_Wooyoung, Wooyoung, Woo-_

Wooyoung felt a body hit his. It was soft, but then when it squeaked out small bubbles, he realized this person wasn’t one that breathed water like he does. The air-breathing creature—this person is _human_. Then why does he feel so familiar? Even in the cold, even when lifelessly hitting Wooyoung’s body, why does it feel familiar? Why does it feel like his morning cuddler?

_San?_

He quickly opened his eyes, and yes, that person is indeed, San. Floating inside the water as if in a comatose, his body was cold. So very cold to not pass as a living person—and Wooyoung quickly flailed inside, getting rid of the chains that anchored him down and rapidly swimming upwards bringing his loved one up. His body complained, he could feel it giving out— _his gills burn like a lit fire, his muscles ache like stabbed by a knife—_ but he continued. He knows that his effort won’t be in vain.

“Don’t give up on me-” Wooyoung wished for both of them—to live again a promising life, to love again like there’s no tomorrow.

He then felt something pushing him upwards, as if it helps him. But he could also feel something seperating from him, a giant weight that sloughed itself off from his shoulders as he swims.

A part of him wanted to stop and look back, but he has got no time— _San’s life is on the line and I can’t stop until I reach the surface-_

He heaved for air once he reached the surface, then quickly puts San on his back, splitting the waves with his smaller body as he made way to the shores. He felt his tail change back to human ones, splitting into two with an agonizing and searing pain as he continues to flail them so both don’t drown.

Once they passed the shallow waters, Wooyoung dragged San’s body to the dry sands, hoping he still lives, hoping he’d breathe again after such an exhausting event-

He could only blame himself for being so stupid, for being so careless, for being so… ignorant and chose to go down while his lover worry for him-

_I want to remember that you’re my only one, and you’re the only one who should be in front of my heartbeat—you matter before me._

“Stupid human- you are so damn fucking stupid Choi San- so stupid-” The siren grunted while giving his lover compressions on his chest, pressing and releasing on his sternum as he hopes to get rid of the water.

“Why the fuck did you chase after me?!” Wooyoung knew San doesn’t hear him. He knew it all along. But he’s tired and delirious already. He slumped to San’s chest, hearing what could be the lasts of the weakening heartbeat, he might also join San in the afterlife-

But then he could hear a small cough. Those small ones would then lead into a coughing fit, choking the water and spurting it out like a fountain. Wooyoung then scrambled from his position, blood rushing back to his head and he could once again think clearly and properly.

The siren helped San lie down on his side as he heaved for air, replacing the liquid stuck inside his lungs with the soft, morning air. Wooyoung pats his back a couple of times to make sure the waters are gone, then he puts his palm under San’s chin to make sure he’s okay.

“Why are you so fucking dumb Sanie?” He hissed as he touched his forehead with his lover’s own. “Chasing me like that—you know perfectly I could breathe underwater—don’t follow me to the place where you can’t follow-” Wooyoung then felt his eyes sting, and it became misty as he thought of San dying.

“’Cause you’re a piece of me-” San croaked, his thoat still burns from the saltwater, but he could care less about it and focus on reassuring Wooyoung.

“Shush, shush, I don’t wanna hear about it—you’re gonna make me fucking cry-” Wooyoung had already sobbed, he could feel fresh tears flowing down his cheeks faster than before. “I thought it was real grief and anguish when Yoenjun left me-” He clasped their hands together, fearing that San would lose his conciousness again. “-But you came like a giant wave to my world—when you- when I saw you drown, that wave crushed my world Sanie-”

After what felt like days, San had finally got his energy back to sit up, even though he could still feel his muscles sting and on borderline cramping at this point.

“Better?” Wooyoung asked, placing his hand behid San’s back to catch the man if he were to fall.

“Yeah, ‘m better.”

Then they could see something float. Something resembling Wooyoung’s scale, so pale in color but had that lavender-ish tint no other creature had— _Violet?_

The creature then swam closer, and as it approached them, it changed into a woman with beautiful hair. Wooyoung was unfazed by this, because he saw enough of these… kind of baits in the past, and he won’t fall for it again.

The siren bared his fangs, feet moving on front of San, fiercely protecting his injured lover from the possible threat.

“ _Wooyoung, my child,_ ” She started. “ _There is no need to do that, I mean no harm on both you and your lover,_ ”

“Then what do you want?” Wooyoung snarled, he knew she sounded like home calling for his name, but still, things could happen and he would do anything to never let it happen.

“ _I am Violet. I came to inform you that my job is very much done here, leading the three lost souls to their islands, but… as for my own lost soul, I am afraid that I had to go. The sea is calling me, and… I wish to bid you goodbye,_ ”

He could feel his breath hitch. _Goodbye?_

Wasn’t Violet also a part of him?

“ _I am indeed a part of you, but… you have a life, you have him, and you have Ateez, and I shall not live a life with envy forever—I will go to the afterlife, because I have finally found my purpose and finally resting after five hundred long years of torment-_ ” She paused, then went closer to Wooyoung. Violet encased him into a warm hug, which the siren returned it with his shaky one. “ _Thank you, Wooyoung. And live happily with him. I shall take my leave._ ” She cupped Wooyoung’s cheeks, then placed a forehead kiss before vanishing into thin air with small sparkles that looked like stardust replacing her.

“Thank you too, Violet.” He looked up to the stars, hoping that Violet would hear them too.

“Wooyoungie?” San was behind him, tapping his shoulder once before retreating his hand.

“Uh-uh?”

“Let’s continue to love,”

“Yeah,”


	25. the burning sun and the huge waves are nothing for us

One by one, the boats were back. Hongjoong and Seonghwa was the first ones to arrive.

“Wooyoung, did you cry?” Seonghwa asked, even though he made sure a thousand times to San that his eyes didn’t look like that. _Damn Seonghwa and his motherly instincts-_

“Yeah, I did.” The other siren confessed, to which Seonghwa gasped and hugged him tightly.

“Aww, you okay now?” Wooyoung flashed him a cute smile, hoping that Seonghwa could leave him alone so he could cling on San.

Then, when Mingi and Yunho came, they were surprised to see that the selkie came with a blindfold. They were right at the break of dawn, but Mingi still compressed his urge to open that damn piece of cloth perched on his lover’s eyes-

The witch explained that this… gift should be opened when the first lights appeared, but he said he’d wait for the last two, so that they could see it together as a team.

Jongho and Yeosang came a good few minutes later, with the human looking like he’s the happiest man on earth, jumping around while dragging his lover here.

“Open your mouth Sangie! Pleaseee~” Jongho pleaded, and the others seemed to be so oblivious as to what happened there, so when they saw that Yeosang had his tongue back, they were overjoyed.

They had circled Yeosang to see if he talked, and suddenly the siren could feel cold sweat seeping out from his skin, unable to hide his nervousness.

“Um… hi?” It was nothing like they had imagined. They thought it’d be lighter, chirpier, but Yeosang’s voice was far than that. It was deep—even deeper than Seonghwa’s but a bit lighter than Mingi’s, and it is so very smooth like a glass surface.

“I know I sound weird but-”

“Nonono honey, sweetheart you sound lovely. Don’t be insecure.” Wooyoung quickly refuted Yeosang’s statement, making the older siren blush at it.

The sun had finally risen, and they all watched it with peace in their eyes while waiting for Yunho.

“Close your eyes pup,” Yunho could feel his heart race, and he could feel something penetrating through his eyes— _were they light?_

“Now you could open it.” He slowly opens his eyes, and instead of nothing, he could see _everything._ The raging waters, the waves, the… colours, _is that the sky? And is that the sun?_

As he looked at it, he could feel his eyes hurt from the sudden exposure—and he could feel them water as his heart clenched.

“Could you… look at me pup?” Mingi was behind him, still standing in anticipation with his heart beating faster than even time itself.

Yunho had the biggest and brightest blue eyes Mingi had ever seen. And the light from the sun made him look so ethereal, almost angelic-

“Min…gi?” He called out, he knew what his lover and the others looked like, but… not like this. So vibrant, so colorful, _so lively_. He could see the creases and the bumps on Mingi’s face even clearer, and he could also see the human… _crying?_ _Is that what you’re supposed to look like when you’re crying?_

He rushed to hug Mingi, closing his eyes as his hand ran across his lover’s back to calm him down. He was still overwhelmed by the whole… seeing thing, but he could feel the others also hugging him from behind and around.

“I’m glad, Yunho. I’m so glad that you could see,” Mingi said in between his sobs, crying for Yunho, _crying for their future_.

Months later, the news of Ateez finding the Utopian isles had spread like wildfire. Almost everybody knew about this news, even the mice and the birds are still talking about this, or so it is what they say.

They ignored all the offers to give up the location of the isles, all the gold that they could have, and all the glory that they could be exposed to. None of the crew wanted it, because it’s their hardwork, their blood, sweat and tears, and if greedy humans are capable of ruining cities, they surely are capable of ruining the entire three islands.

The mermaids were different from what they had expected. Jennie _is_ the empress of Silverwave. The one initiating the war were the elders, because she doesn’t want to harm the isles—her guts told her that there would be no special treasures except for the one accompanying the four lost souls, and she’s right. The war had ended some time between those months, and the seas were peaceful once again.

Ateez essentially just wanted a peaceful life after so much had happened in the past two years. If there were to be another war, they had agreed to flee or… guard them with all costs, because that land is sacred, and should not be spoiled under the greedy hands.

“Ohmygod!” Hongjoong could hear her gasp when she peeked the peephole of her door. He knocked it like he used to, but his mother would probably not recognise him anymore due to his massive changes in appearance.

“How- why did you come to our house?! Do you want to pillage this entire town or-”

“It’s my house too, mom. Can’t I come home after a long voyage?” Hongjoong asked her, and she seemed like she was about to faint then and there.

“Hongjoong-” He opened his hat and mask, showing his black hair and familiar toothy grin back to his mom after two years missing.

“I missed you mom.”

“Oh my, come in! All of you!” She ushered the other seven, and they did just that.

“So this is your crew, Hongjoong?”

“Yeah mom.” Hongjoong then pointed to his lover. “That’s Seonghwa right there,” And as if it was his cue, Seonghwa opened his hat and mask.

“He’s handsome Joong,”

“That’s Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and our youngest, Jongho.”

All of them revealed their faces to her, and she… just stared at them one by one.

“They look so innocent Hongjoongie!” She said after her eyes were taken off them. “Where are the sirens? Are they too shy to come with you?”

“No, no. Don’t scream, okay mom?” He closed her eyes with his palm, then motioned the three to take their amulets off—because that way, they’d have their real hair colors.

When she saw the mop of aquamarine, lavender and blonde hair, her mouth gaped. So the most beautiful ones here were, in fact sirens. And they look even more beautiful when they are in their true colors.

“Say, Hongjoong, have you found your girl yet?” She asked when the others had already left to the inn that they were staying. Seonghwa was outside, waiting for his captain to finish his reunion with his mother.

“No mom, I… it’s complicated.” Hongjoong seemed to find difficulty explaining that he’s in love with one of the sirens. “S-Seonghwa’s my lover.” He confessed.

His mom seemed concerned after she remembered that Seonghwa was one of the sirens, but Hongjoong had assured her that it’s okay, he didn’t hypnotize Hongjoong to love him, nor Seonghwa didn’t try to kill him once.

“Hey Hwa,” Hongjoong poked his arm through the small window.

“Oh god Joong,” He jolted, then looked suspiciously to Hongjoong.

“Come in.”

His mother then realized their height difference. Sure, it was different, but the way that Seonghwa made himself look smaller when he looked at Hongjoong was surely mesmerizing, and when the siren would just sit still so comfortably leaning against his son, looking at him with stars on his eyes— and she had lived long enough to see people that are passionate in their relationship, even if they don’t show it.

“This is my starboy, Seonghwa.” He introduced his lover properly now to his mom. She only knew his name, but then as Seonghwa told her his backstory, she could see why Hongjoong is loving him in the first place.

Yes it is hard loving a water-breathing person.

Yes it is hard to heal Seonghwa’s past scars.

Yes it is hard for Seonghwa to make Hongjoong talk.

But they’d go through it over and over again for each other.


	26. let's make a toast like a thunder - epilouge 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seongjoong and Woosan, set in 15 years later, enjoy!

**_Seonghwa-Hongjoong_ **

“So that’s how it goes Mama?”

“Yes Eunji-ah, that’s how it goes.”

“But- but happens to them next? Did the pirates have a happy ending?”

“Yes honey, they did,” _And the proof is you._ Seonghwa had wanted to say that to her, but he didn’t want to, since it would ruin her curiousity.

They were inside Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s bedroom, waiting for Eunji’s brother Gwihan to come over from dinner— _he had a late one since he had homeworks to be done_.

“Dada?” Gwihan asked when he peeked to the bedroom. “Mama where’s Dada?” The ten year old asked his mother, but Seonghwa only answered with a shake on his head. “Dada should be here by any moment—he promised me-” He pouted.

“There’s still tomorrow honey, he’s kinda busy these days,”

“But Dada yesterday promised to draw with me! And the other yesterdays too!”

Seonghwa knew what it felt like to be neglected as a child, but he couldn’t do anything since Hongjoong had a meeting with the coucil as their Pirate King. Hongjoong was a breakthrough of their era, often called the mad king of Utopia—but well, now their kingdom had been a safe haven for all races and creatures alike.

“Don’t cry Gwihan-oppa! I will make Dada cry if you cry! I will kick his shin if I have to!” The seven year old slipped her way down the big bed to her brother, soothing him with a hug and small pats on the back. The older brother snorted, unable to hide his laughter at his cute sister.

“You will not make anyone cry Eunji-ah, that’s bad.” Seonghwa stated, though he knew it was only for making her older brother smile again.

“But Mama! Dada said if you make a promise, you can’t break it! Dada broke his promise!” You could see here that he inherited Hongjoong’s stubborn personality, meanwhile Gwihan inherited Seonghwa’s more compromising one.

“Eunji-ah, look at me, I didn’t cry, did I?” Gwihan asked his little sister.

“No…?” She tilted her head cutely, Eunji seemed to not realize she did it again.

After they had waited for an hour, it was eight already— _and nine is their bedtime_ —so Gwihan had already lost his hope of drawing with his Dada this time. But then he heard a faint knock and a small call of; “ _Seonghwa? Kids?”_ through the door.

He hastily ran to open the it, revealing Hongjoong, who’s still clad in his formal attire— _his coat and outfit_ —and looking very tired from everything that had been going through today.

“Dada!” Gwihan hugged him, only reaching his waist, but it was tight as hell compared to his small and unassuming frame.

“Dada!” His second child also hugs her father, and made Seonghwa feel a bit left-out in that small reunion.

“Gwihan, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it in time,” Hongjoong said when he had changed to his night clothes, consisting only of a white top and bottoms, and brought out his collection of inks for the child to use.

“It’s okay Dada, I really do get that you’re busy.” He flashed a pained smile to his dad, wanting him to just come and play once a week in time, not late like this again. Hongjoong had been so busy these three weeks, and he had finished his work just today securing the deals with other kingdoms, so he’d get a free time the next week for his children and Seonghwa.

“Which color do you want to use?” Hongjoong asked as he laid the drawing papers on the table, then brought a small fountain pen to the table where Gwihan’s sitting for his son to use.

“Umm… can I use black and blue ink for now?”

“Okay, sure honey. Take your time.”

“Wait. Mama, can you show me your back again?” He asked Seonghwa.

“Why?” The older siren asked, even though he opens his shirt.

“I wanna see the butterfly.” Gwihan’s eyes seemed to lit up when he saw Seonghwa’s back, the tattoo’s ink had faded a little, but it was still visible to the sight.

“Okay, now I wanna see Dada’s chest.” Hongjoong had gotten a tattoo that corresponds with Seonghwa’s, a small flower on his left chest, with a cursive ‘ _everyday’s a finale show_ ’ written under it.

Gwihan’s eyes seemed to copy both of his parent’s tattoos, left hand drawing practiced strokes with ease, and then showed his finished drawing to Hongjoong when the father draws something else. Eunji had also requested for a brush and Seonghwa’s makeup kit, she wanted to fill in the empty lack lines that Hongjoong’s flower had.

“Dada, here.” Hongjoong smiles as he scans over at the drawing, the butterfly and the flower looking very similar to his—Gwihan had surely inherited his abstract mind and dexterity, he drew almost everywhere—even in his lesson books, and none of his parents were against it. Then he looked at his own chest, splotches of red and yellow powder were filling the flower cutely, but he’d cherish it since it’s Eunji’s.

“What’s the meaning though?” _Oof, He knew that this day would come._

“Do you guys mind if I tell you a story, because it’s nine already-”

“We don’t Dada! We want another story! That’d be fun!” Eunji happily jumped around, because she’s not tired today. He moved everyone on the bed, so if anyone’s tired, they could just slump over and sleep.

“Okay, here goes nothin’. So, you guys know that your Mama’s parents are not the closest thing to good, right?” He could see a nod from both of the kids as he looked at both of them. “Mama’s parents kept him locked inside his room, and he was rarely out—so he vowed to himself that he had to be free. And as to mine… your Mama was the one who suggested that drawing, y’know? Because he told me that every butterfly always goes back to a flower, and no matter how hard he tried to go away, he had always went back to me. Even after we fight, even after he ran away, even after this kingdom was built, he had always came back to me, so… I think that holds a very deep meaning to our relationship _.” Hongjoong could still feel that one flower pounding deep inside his chest, growing it’s strong roots as it thrives under the showers of Seonghwa’s love_. Hongjoong flashed a small smile to Seonghwa, which was returned with a bigger one and a peck on the lips.

“Ew! Mama and Dada are gross!” Eunji covered her eyes, still not believeing that her Mama and Dada kissed in front of her eyes.

“I think they’re sweet Eunji-ah, their story is way better than those romantic novels Wooyoung-samchun always brought with him.”

**_San-Wooyoung_ **

_San could feel that he’s losing air. He heaved his chest, only to be met with water, not air. And it fucking burns. It burns like fore licking inside his lungs. It hurts so bad, but he had to reach for Wooyoung-_

“Wooyoung-”

San shot his eyes open, and he realized that he’s inside his and Wooyoung’s shared bedroom. They lived with Hongjoong and Seonghwa in the main island, with San being Hongjoong’s army general and Wooyoung becoming Hongjoong’s relations minister—everything is stable now.

“Daaaad~” Someone beside him whined, even though he remembered not sleeping with these little rascals last night. He remembered tucking them in their respective beds and rooms, kissing good nights on their heads—but here they are, cuddled to his sides in the morning. “Mom’s gone to work with Hongjoong-samchun already if you’re searching for him,”

“Byul, Taeyang, I remembered tucking you guys in your rooms,” His oldest girl, eight year old Byul, whined again while scratching her dark purple hair. The other one, his younger son six year old Taeyang, still slept—drooling on San’s shirt while hugging him tight.

“Mom woke us up at six Dad, could you believe that?”

“Really? What time is it now?”

“Seven thirty. We had breakfast half asleep, and Mom told us we could sleep again since today’s Sunday.” She slung her hand on San’s chest sloppily, snuggling impossibly closer to her father.

“Come on Byulie baby, Haneul-imo is coming today if you remember, and she said she’ll bring Puchi too,” Puchi is Haneul’s shiba dog, and his kids surely loved playing with it. San caressed at his daughter’s soft locks, effectively waking the unruly-haired young siren up. “Oh my, you look like a kraken sweetheart,” San giggled at the sight of his daughter because these days, Byul won’t even sleep with him even though she’s definitely daddy’s little daughter.

“Okay, now my little baby boy Taeyangie, my little sun, wake up,” San had rolled himself to his side, slowly patting his youngest until he wakes with a whine coming out from his lips.

“Five more minutes daaad~”

“Okay, but you don’t get to play with Puchi today,”

“Puchi?! Haneul-imo is coming?!” Taeyang looked at him with disbelief, eyes wide and scrambled to sit down.

“Yes my boy, now let’s get dressed, her ship would be here at around eleven.”

“Haneul-imo!” Both of his kids greeted their auntie, and then after that they found themselves attached to Puchi wherever it goes.

“Hi Haneul-ah, it’s been two months since the last time you came here,”

“Yeah, being a travelling merchant has it’s own downsides, Sanie-oppa.” Haneul is a travelling merchant, going to every corner of the world to buy, sell and resell things such as exotic beans or unique things.

“I bought this for you and Wooyoungie-oppa,” She said, giving out two small rings to San, and he kept it inside his pocket.

“Thanks, and do enjoy your stay here, I gotta look after the kids,”

“Mom!” It was evening already, and Wooyoung told them to come to their private beach in their backyard to swim together. They had this habit set dating back even before the children were born—they’d swim every sunday evening, forget what you have at the moment, and relax a bit in the warm seas.

“Mom, can we search for golden coins again?” Byul asked him, tugging at his sleeve as they both walk slowly to the water.

“Sure sweetheart, I think I know a place.” Wooyoung replied, then jumping off the small cliff into the deep blue followed by his daughter. Taeyang stayed there since he’s human like San, and not all children coming from interspecies breeding end up a hybrid.

San could hear happy laughters from below his feet, Wooyoung and his little star is having fun down there, meanwhile him and Taeyang are chilling above, waiting for them to be done with their time together.

“Daaad, Byul-noona knew how you both met, but she never once told it to me,” The small kid plopped himself down, then looked at his father’s face.

“You wanna hear it? It’s long though sweetheart, are you sure you won’t sleep?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright, sit tight Tae,” His son seemed giddy at San’s remark, being giggly as the father takes in his breath to start. “So, Mom and Dad met when Hongjoong-samchun and Jongho-samchun got stranded on my hometown. You’ve been there a couple times to visit Halmeoni and Harabeoji, remember?” He saw a nod from his son, then continued. “So, your Mom is already Yeosang-samchun’s friend back then, and Wooyoungie was brought there because they were a bit lonely. You know, Hongjoong-samchun and Jongho-samchun were sneaking out from Harabeoji’s inn in the middle of the night, so I followed them to the beach, and there’s where I met your Mom.”

“And then? And then? What happened? Did you kiss-kiss Mom?”

“No sweetheart, it took us about six months to kiss-kiss. He used to have a bad boyfriend, his ex-boyfriend used to kiss-kiss other people without having permission from your Mom, and that’s bad, because it’s gonna ruin your relationship-”

“What about you Dad? Do you kiss-kiss other people too?”

“Of course! I kiss my mother, my father, Haneul-imo, you, and Byul aside from Wooyoungie. _It’s under his permission_.” He whispered the last part, making sure that it sounded like a secret.

“Sanie! We’re done! Wanna go back or sit here watch sunset?” Wooyoung asked from afar, he’s clad in his white chiffon blouse and black tight pants, lavender hair flowing freely with the wind as they blew it dry. His daughter came running to him, her loose beige dress made a huge contrast with her dark purple hair.

“Let’s go back. I’m tired keeping these two rowdy rascals when you were out.”

“Hey, they’re our children, not two rowdy rascals Sanie. If they were those, it was you that inherited it to them.” A kiss was placed on San’s thin lips, completely shoving his argument away from coming out. He could only sigh and give in as his children shouted ewws from their backs.

As they walked, Wooyoung spotted a familiar face from the docks nearby, and went to check on that face, making sure that the person is real—not his imagination, since he hadn't seen this person in ages

“Hi, Wooyoung.” Choi Yeonjun. He was there, clad in rough clothing, with Soobin— _looking so sad_ —beside him.

“Oh, hi Yeonjun.” Wooyoung greeted him back, even though his heart had screamed a loud ‘ _No don’t’ do it!!!_ ’

“I was just wondering if… we could do a little reunion?” Yeonjun asked, but Taeyang tugged at his clothes asking for bungeoppang.

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t. I have two little mouths to feed and a husband that I have to attend. Nice seeing you though,” Wooyoung forced a pained smile, then took Taeyang’s hand into his while jogging to San and Byul.

He didn’t and won’t lie if it comes to his family. He had two little mouths to feed, and a loving husband that he had to attend.


	27. you and me, it's always us - epilouge 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yungi and jongsang 15 years later, enjoy!

**_Mingi-Yunho_ **

“Mama? Papa?” Yunho could vaguely hear his daughter Minha from out the door. He’s still half asleep, watiting for his dream to take over in the middle of the night—but his youngest child decided that it’s not time yet. He shuffled from his position, leaving Mingi alone on the bed for his still six-year old daughter.

“Yes Minha baby?” He opened the door, revealing the small, blue eyed child hugging her seal skin tight. He bloodshot eyes looked at him with horror still lingering inside of it.

“I had a nightmare Mama, ca-can I sleep here?” She asked him quietly, knowing that she’ll possibly be rejected.

“Yes baby,” The older selkie hauled her small body up, cradling her with gentle hands to where she’d usually sleep—in the middle, between him and his husband. Mingi stirred from his sleep, probably sensing that Yunho’s not on the bed anymore, and opened his eyes so slowly.

“Pup?” The witch squinted his eyes, not sure why Yunho would leave the bed in this questionable hour. Yet he saw their daughter, crawling on the bed with red and puffy eyes, indicating she had just watched a nightmare in her sleep.

“Nightmare, Minha?” He asked her, to which his daughter just snuggles closer to her dad.

“Uh-uh. You, Mama, Junhyeok-oopa and Yoonhyeok-oppa were taken by monsters. Biiig big monsters! And I can’t-” She started to hug her own seal skin tighter. “I can’t reach you! They tossed me off!”

“Aww baby, we’re here, alright? Do you want us to call your brothers too?” Mingi asked, and it’s been a long time since all five of them slept in the same room.

“Can we?” She seemed to look not sure, she knew her brothers don’t really like the idea of sleeping with parents again since they’re nine already.

“I’ll try,” Yunho suggested, then his long feet leads him to his older sons’ room. Junhyeok and Yoonhyeok are twins, something that is very uncommon in both human children and selkies alike—not to mention that Junhyeok is human, meanwhile his younger twin is a selkie. They obviously have the same face— _both are a copy of Mingi except the nose,_ ultramarine hair color and light blue eyes.

“Jun, wake up,” Yunho kissed his older son’s nose, and he woke up pretty quickly since he’s alight sleeper. Meanwhile for Yoonhyeok, he needs the help of the other twin to shake him until he whines. Yoon would and always would sleep like a log— _very much like Mingi_.

“Yoon, wake up.” Yunho swatted his son’s butt, but he had no response. “Yoon,” He shook his son’s shoulder, and Jun pats his tummy—until a small whine was heard.

“I was in the middle of a fairytale Ma~” He sulked, but saw something in his mother’s eyes, so he didn’t sulk more.

“Your baby sister had a nightmare, and she wanted you guys to sleep with her too along with us,”

“Minnie had a nightmare?” Junhyeok asked him again, then bolted to his parent’s room. Yoonhyeok followed suit, they were both so very protective of their baby sister—to the point where Junhyeok is willing to summon a golem if she’s somehow hurt because of other people.

“Minnie!” They jumped on the bed, making sure that their sister is okay by checking her whole body for injuries, and luckily she had none. They both sighed in relief, to which Mingi just laughed it off because nightmares can’t take forms— _they are there only to disturb one’s mind_.

Minha ended up sleeping on Mingi’s chest, something she liked since her early years, meanwhile her brothers were by her sides, and Yunho on the edge of the bed.

“Why so early Pa?” Junhyeok asked, because Mingi had woken him up at five thirty to go to the coven. Mingi had became the Nightwalker’s coven leader replacing his father before him, and Hyunjin had became his right-hand man—often mistaken as Mingi’s secretary.

“Well, Jeong Jaehyun-ssi is coming today, don’t you wanna ask him things?” Jaehyun is a friend of Mingi that is a Necromancer, _one of the branches in magic_ —and is a fellow Nightwalker coming from another city, Neo city in the southern seas. He is a well-educated man, he had students who learns the art of necromancy from him—he’s a master Necromancer.

Junhyeok had… an interest in those. He had necromancy flowing in his veins, not that Mingi didn’t like it—but it surprised him because there were no Necromancers in seven generations of his family tree—until his son, of course. Junhyeok had unconciously raised a blood golem to protect his sister from another student’s wrong spell, shielding both of them from flying debris along with all the other students on the field that day. He named the golem Junhee, and it had stayed loyal to him ever since. Junhee is contained in a special sickle-shaped pendant, so he won’t desintegrate into a bloody mess when Junhyeok has no need of him. It was given by Jaehyun who had a frost golem as a gift for his birthday.

“Can I ride Junhee? I wanna sleep on the way.” They lived in Aucteraden, the second biggest island after the main one, Zenith. It was governed by the coven—still part of the kingdom but the villagers living there are mostly related to the Nightwalkers.

“Sure, your siblings are gonna be out for their usual swim with Mama, and they’ll pick us up at 6 to stargaze, just to you know.”

Junhyeok slipped his pendant off his head, then placed it in the ground. Mingi waited nearby, making sure everything went okay. The nine year old drew a circle with a stick, then threw his pendant on the ground while muttering the spell to get Junhee out of the metal. A growl ripped out the pendant, and slowly but surely, muscles and bones began to materialize inside the circle, creating a blood golem.

Junhee had two spikes on his left shoulder and a big one on the right, his hands were full of blunt bone spikes. He raised into an astonishing two and a half metres height, towering both the witch and the child alike.

“Morning Junhee,” The child pats the flesh-colored golem’s hands, a sign that he wants to ride up and possibly sleep. Junhee is overly protective to the family members, often growling like a dog to strangers that could do possible harm, but he’s really nice to kids. He stayed away from them, but if one touches him, he’d freeze—afraid to hurt them like he did once to Junhyeok by scratching him on the face. It was a small graze, and Junhee was afraid to face punishment from Mingi—he didn’t obviously, but his previous owner did that to him.

Golems are essentially lost souls that promised to reincarnate into a better person, albeit their dark past of crimes. Junhee, for example, is a lost soul from two hundred years ago that had killed himself in a ritual, not wanting to partake it any longer because he knew it’s going to ruin a nation. He felt like his job was far from done, so he agreed to be summoned by necromancers that needed him.

Junhee kneeled down for his young master to climb, and after Junhyeok felt he had the right position, they are finally ready to go.

“Junhyeok, Junhee, and Mingi-ssi, nice to meet you three.” Jaehyun greeted them, and his golem had also waved a hand. Junhyeok was still on Junhee, half-asleep but there to attend his usual time with the coven members. Mingi smiled and bowed to Jaehyun, a sign that the older Necromancer is welcomed in the island.

“You know… it is rare for an adult to summon a golem, let alone a child, Junhyeok. I summoned mine at the age of fifteen, and you did it in just the tender age of nine.”

“Does the fact that Junhyeok had a selkie mother affect this, Jaehyun-ssi?” Mingi asked him.

“Maybe, because humans don’t really have much ‘Essence’ in their bodies if not trained—but I sensed a lot inside Junhyeok, and he’ll be a fine Necromancer if trained well, Mingi-ssi.”

“Yes, I plan to train him with you when he’s ready, probably in the age of seventeen to finish his studies in basic magic. I will inform you if he indeed wants to be a Necromancer under your care, Jaehyun-ssi.”

“Junheeeeee!!” It was somewhere between five and six when Minha ran to Junhee. She loves riding on the golem, finding it fun rather than scary. “Pick me up, pick me up Junhee!” The golem scooped the small six-year old to place her on one of his back spikes, then went back to his owner, Junhyeok.

“Hi Minha! Papa is a bit busy with Jaehyun-ahjussi, he’s gonna be done in like, fifteen more minutes,” Junhyeok smiled, he knew how hard it is to govern people with magic—they could possibly do harm more than just people without magic.

Junhee knew this as his cue to entertain the small girl—she gets bored pretty easily when she has nothing to do. Yunho greeted his oldest son with a kiss on his two chubby cheeks, asking him usual questions like; “ _How was your day?_ ” and “ _Did Junhee cause you trouble?_ ”. Yoonhyeok told his twin how his day goes, he unintentionally had found a small beach near the coven grounds when swimming here, and told Junhyeok that it’d be nice for a secluded magic training.

“Sorry I kept you all waiting. Shall we?”

They ended up stargazing until eight. Their stories were told, their past unveiled, and for now, Mingi and Yunho are content with their lives.

**_Jongho-Yeosang_ **

“Appa! Appa! You said we can sail today!” Jongho had came home at four from his work as the governor of the smallest island Matrinesse when his oldest daughter, Yeoju, bombarded him with that statement.

“Yes Yeoju-ya I do remember, let me change my clothes first, alright?” Jongho sure is tired, but he can’t really say no when the whole family hasn’t spent time with him in a month already.

“Angel?” The man had searched everywhere to greet Yeosang, but he was nowhere—so he must be inside their bedroom, doing god knows what. He peeked inside, only to be met with a topless Yeosang fanning himself while reading what seemed like a novel.

“Oh- hey,” The siren seemed surprised, looking at him from head to toe, making sure that there’s really nothing wrong with Jongho. “I thought you’ll come home at eight, and you woke up unusually early this morning, I didn’t get my morning kiss,” Those pink, enticing lips pouted, and it made Jongho coo at his husband’s antics.

“Right, sorry I didn’t inform you earlier, but my current job had ended early, so I could go home at this hour to spend time with all of you.” Jongho puts his work suitcase down, and stripped his clothes to change into a new one. “And by the way, happy birthday Yeosangie, I wish you all the good things in the world.” The man landed a wet smooch on his angel’s cheek, making the siren sheepishly giggle and covered his face with the book that he’s reading.

He took a white shirt and beige pants, meanwhile Yeosang puts on his favorite bright red silk dress that Jongho had bought him overseas—matching his scales’ color pretty accurately. It was a bit loose, but he tightened the band on the waist to accentuate his looks for the evening occasion.

He then saw his oldest daughter Yeoju wearing her white, yellow flower-patterned dress when the eight year old barged into their room, along with her two twin little brothers Saeran and Saeyoung already dressed.

“My god, you guys sure are excited,” Jongho scratched his head, feeling guilty of not spending much time with his precious children and angel.

They had quite a moderate-sized house on the island, but they specifically chose that area because of the beach that they could access from the backyard, and it had the view of the two other islands on the horizon—making it a perfect location for his siren husband and daughter.

They headed over to the meadow that seperated the seashore and their house on the hill, walking down a stony path to their private little beach that nobody knew about. It was then that Jongho pushed the small boat, with the help of Yeosang to the sea—so it floats and they can get up to sail with no problem.

Yeoju seemed the most excited, she had long wanted to spend time with her dad and the whole family—but never got the chance to these days. She had Yeosang’s soft blonde locks, beautiful face shape and pearly blue eyes, and the twins sure got Jongho’s looks more even though Saeran had a near-white hair meanwhile his twin had a dark brown hair.

The waters were a bit turbulent today, but it was no problem for all of them, since they are heading to a small, all-sand island anyway. The island wasn’t far from their house, located just hundreds of metres away and the waters that they are treading are shallow, making it a perfect little getaway for the family. The twins loved playing on the sands as they are humans like Jongho, but Yeoju especially loved that location because of the pipe fishes that usually line up in their schools prettily.

Yeosang was getting ready to jump off when he heard a small splash accompanied with two others and a big one—leaving him on the boat alone.

“You all are swimming?!” He looked at all of them with confusion, because they usually don’t really swim.

“I wanna accompany you swimming Sangie, it’s been a long time,” His six year old twins are good at swimming already, and they’d play near the shore, so there’s really nothing Jongho could worry about.

Yeosang’s long blonde hair was swept by the wind when he jumped down headfirst to the three-meter deep water. It was flawless as like it should be, and the red dress had transformed into a red-scaled tail that is brighter than fire and redder than blood. The siren emerged with a bit of his long bangs veiling his sight, but dove once again to sweep them out his face, and swam to Jongho’s direction.

“Hyung?” Jongho asked, because Yeosang isn’t usually like this—so romantic and so shameless.

“Yeah?” He clung on to his husband, not letting go even when Jongho swims here and there, tail completely unused and body unmoving. Then it hit him. Yeosang had missed him so much that he’s shedding off his usual shy and composed personality. “Missed you, Jjongie.”

Yeoju, who had a darker red tail than Yeosang saw her mother cling on her father so tightly, came to them to join the hug, then kissing her father’s face with wet kisses.

“It’s Umma’s birthday today, not mine, why not kiss him?” Jongho asked her with a smile on his face. She looked at Yeosang for a second.

“I kissed Umma enough already.” She surely inherited Yeosang’s sarcasm—with her signature poker face mirrorring her mother’s. Yeosang choked on the nonexistent water in his throat, the answer was simply so shocking and so unpredictable to the point where he couldn’t clap it back at his daughter.

“Oof, I think you lost this time, Sangie,” Jongho kissed those pouty lips, he can’t resist those kinds of cute things that Yeosang does all the time.

“So… I was told by Sanie samchun the other day that Umma used to be mute? Like… he can’t speak at all?” Yeoju asked them when they were heading back, since the water has gone cold.

“Yeah, it’s true.” Jongho answered his daughter truthfully, he can’t lie about their unruly past.

“So… how do you speak? Like… write?”

“We speak with what’s called a sign language.” Yeosang answered her. “I would gladly teach you, since only a handful of people knew this, and this could benefit you as well, plus the mermaids that lived nearby could speak in sign language.”

“Was that the wiggly hand-thing you guys usually do in the morning? With full silence?”

“Yeah. Saying good morning and I love you before work, or talking about you guys in our room… it’s useful for things Yeoju-ya.” Yeosang hand’t joked on the talking about the kids part, because he’s afraid that they’ll eavesdrop the conversation if they speak—or even wake them up, so they usually talk with sign language at night.

Saeran and Saeyoung were sorting out their seashells and sand dollars when they heard it, and one of them threw a sand dollar to Yeosang.

“Talking about people behind their backs is bad Umma, you told us that,” Saeran complained.

“Yeah? And throwing things at people are also disrespectful, Saeran-ah. For talking about you guys part, we were afraid to wake you up since all of you are light sleepers like us.”

“Oh. Sorry Umma, I won’t do it again.” He said sorry to Yeosang, and the mother went to the child, then hugged him tightly.

“It’s alright honey, we learn from mistakes, alright?”

“Y’know kids, you guys should be grateful that you had parents. Your Umma’s parents left him when they realized somebody else had taken his tongue off.”

“What?! Somebody ripped his tongue off?!” Now Saeyoung’s the one talking. “Why though?!”

“Because they’re jealous of my voice. The lesson here is, jealousy is a double edged knife. If you don’t use it wisely, it could hurt you and other people as well. But if you use that as your motivation to get better, then it’s kind of nice.”

The three nodded, then walked on the small deck of the boat to Yeosang and hugged him.

“You don’t have to do anything to make me love you—I’ve loved you guys even before you were born, even before I knew your personality. But thanks for the hug anyway, I need these hugs more often than I think.”

“I know I can’t choose who my parents are, but I’m glad that you guys are my parents.” Yeoju smiled at them, that smart and sweet little girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks for all the kudos and comments that all f you made, especially @lintuchiha and @juancockles, you guy's comments sure made me finish the story with a new record, 46.000 words. 
> 
> Okay, a little behind-the-scene TMI here, I am a certified open water diver, so I know how it feels like to choke on seawater at 18 meters deep, I know how it feels like when you could only hear your breaths bubbling up in the eerie silence, and all that other diving stuff. I am also Indonesian, I could read and write stories perfectly in Indonesian although nowadays I do prefer to write in English. If any one of you happen to be Indonesian, go check my wattpad account @xumeii ! This story is originally written in Indonesian by the way, but I kinda tweaked the details since the Indonesian one is too cringey already TvT. Anyways, that's my ending notes, see you in my other stories!


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